What Does Mark 10:21 Mean in the King James?
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Jesus holds the man in love while naming the thing he must release to follow.
THE MEANING
Jesus looks at you with love and names a lack that possessions cannot fill. The invitation is concrete: release what you own to the poor, place your treasure in heaven, and follow him, even carrying the cross.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being loved means nothing costly will be asked of you.
THE ROOT
ὑστερεῖ
hysterei
GROWS FROM
ὑστερ-
hyster-
To be behind or come short; hence, to lack.
“lackest” in this verse is hysterei. The word carries the sense of falling short, not merely having too little. Jesus names a real lack in the midst of abundance: what the man owns has not brought him to the freedom of following.
ALSO GROWS
hysterēma: Lack, deficiency
ὑστέρημα
This related word makes the shared root’s sense of a shortfall explicit.
hysteros: Later, behind
ὕστερος
The same root’s sense of being behind gives “lackest” a dimension English can flatten into simple absence.
θησαυρόν
thēsauron
GROWS FROM
θησαυρ-
thēsaur-
Treasure or a store of value.
The verse does not ask the man simply to become poorer; it speaks of where his treasure is stored. What he releases toward the poor is joined to a different store, “in heaven.”
ALSO GROWS
thēsaurizō: To store up treasure
θησαυρίζω
This related verb appears in the invitation to lay up treasure in Matthew 6:20, clarifying the sense of value being stored.
thēsaurophylakion: Treasury, storehouse
θησαυροφυλάκιον
This compound word names a place where treasure is kept, echoing the verse’s attention to treasure’s location.
THE PATTERN
Possessions become treasure with God when they are released toward people in need.
But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.THE THREAD
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;The verb translated “lackest” here and “come short” there belongs to the same Greek family: ὑστερέω (hystereō), to lack or fall short. The shared root opens this moment beyond one man’s possessions: the loving gaze meets a shortfall without concealing it.
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