What Does Mark 12:16 Mean in the King James?
And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Cæsar’s.
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
A face and a name stamped on the same coin make likeness and claim visible together.
THE MEANING
The image and inscription identify the authority the coin displays. Together they make a visible likeness and a written claim point to the same source, while leaving the reader with a deeper question: whose likeness does human life bear?
THE ROOT
εἰκών
eikōn
GROWS FROM
εἰκ-
eik-
To resemble or be like.
English “image” can sound like a mere picture, but εἰκών carries the sense of likeness. The same Greek word names humanity made in God’s image and Christ as God’s image, opening a question beyond the coin: what does a visible likeness disclose about its source?
ALSO GROWS
eikō: To be like or resemble.
εἴκω
This verbal form makes explicit the likeness contained in the coin’s image.
eikazō: To liken or compare.
εἰκάζω
The act of comparing something to an image shows how likeness makes recognition possible.
ἐπιγραφή
epigraphē
GROWS FROM
γράφω
graphō
To write or inscribe.
“superscription” in this verse is epigraphē. The word carries the sense of writing upon: the coin’s authority is not only pictured but written into view. The verse binds likeness and inscription as two marks that identify the one it represents.
ALSO GROWS
epigraphō: To write upon or inscribe.
ἐπιγράφω
This verb describes the act of placing the words on the coin.
graphē: Writing or a written text.
γραφή
The inscription is writing made visible, giving the image a name and claim.
THE PATTERN
A visible likeness identifies what it reflects and connects the bearer to its source.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.THE THREAD
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.The Greek word εἰκών, used for the coin’s image, also appears for humanity’s image of God in the Greek text of Genesis. That shared word widens the question from whose image marks the coin to whose likeness the reader bears.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us