What Does Mark 11:14 Mean in the King James?

And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

Mark 11:14 · KJV

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

The Greek behind “for ever” says “into the age,” giving Jesus’ words the shape of a lasting closure over the tree’s fruit.

THE MEANING

Jesus speaks a sentence over the fig tree: no one is to eat its fruit again, and the disciples hear him. The words reach “into the age,” carrying the closure beyond the moment of speech.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the assumption that visible life guarantees a nourishing yield: the tree’s fruit is closed to every eater.

THE ROOT

καρπός

karpos

GROWS FROM

καρπ-

karp-

Fruit, produce, or yield.

The same ⁨καρπ-⁩ (karp-, fruit) stem appears in words for bearing fruit and fruitfulness. English can make “fruit” sound like a thing the tree possesses; the Greek links it to the yield the tree brings forth.

ALSO GROWS

karpophoreō: To bear or produce fruit.

καρποφορέω

This branch makes explicit that fruit is the tree’s yield, the very thing Jesus says no one will eat.

karpophoria: Fruit-bearing or fruitfulness.

καρποφορία

It names the condition of producing fruit, bringing the tree’s absent yield into focus.

εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα

eis ton aiōna

GROWS FROM

αἰών

aiōn

An age or span of time.

“for ever” in this verse is eis ton aiōna. The phrase literally carries the sense “into the age.” The sentence is spoken about the tree’s future yield, and the Greek keeps that duration in view.

ALSO GROWS

aiōnios: Belonging to or lasting through an age.

αἰώνιος

This related word preserves the same age-language in a description of duration.

aiōnes: Ages or spans of time.

αἰῶνες

The plural shows how the word can speak of time in distinct ages rather than as an abstract idea.

THE PATTERN

A tree’s fruit reveals its yield, and barrenness brings its claim to remain into question.

I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.

Jeremiah 8:13 · KJVThe absence of figs and grapes appears alongside fading leaves and the loss of what had been given.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Matthew 7:19 · KJVFruitlessness is presented as the condition that leads to a tree being cut down.

Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?

Luke 13:7 · KJVThe fig tree’s absent fruit becomes the reason its continued place is challenged.

THE THREAD

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

John 15:2 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨καρπός⁩ (karpos, fruit), making the tree’s yield the point at stake. John places that yield in the vine’s branches; here, the fig tree receives a sentence that no one will eat its fruit into the age.

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