What Does Mark 12:21 Mean in the King James?

And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise.

Mark 12:21 · 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 repeated deaths make seed the measure of continuity that the story keeps interrupting.

THE MEANING

You are shown a sequence in which the second man takes the woman, dies, and leaves no seed; the third meets the same end. The repetition makes death’s interruption of lineage the immediate fact, and the verse leaves that interruption unresolved.

THE ROOT

σπέρμα

sperma

GROWS FROM

⁨σπερ-⁩/⁨σπειρ-⁩ (sper-/speir-)

to sow or scatter seed

Here, seed means offspring, but the Greek word belongs to the family of sowing. The language places descendants beside what is planted: both carry life forward, making the repeated deaths and the absence of seed a sharp image of interrupted continuation.

ALSO GROWS

speirō: to sow, scatter seed

σπείρω

The related verb appears in the image of something sown that dies before it is made alive (1 Corinthians 15:36), linking seed with both death and continuation.

spora: sowing; seed

σπορά

This related noun appears in the phrase “incorruptible seed” (1 Peter 1:23), carrying the same sowing image into the question of what endures.

THE PATTERN

Scripture uses seed and sowing to hold death beside the question of what life continues.

And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Genesis 15:5 · KJVSeed names a future line extending beyond what can be counted.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

John 12:24 · KJVA seed’s death is joined to the possibility of fruit continuing beyond it.

Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:

1 Corinthians 15:36 · KJVThe act of sowing places death beside the question of what can live afterward.

THE THREAD

Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Luke 8:11 · KJV

Mark’s seed means offspring; Luke uses the same Greek word, ⁨σπέρμα⁩ (sperma), for the seed in the parable. The shared word carries the image of life placed into the future, making “left no seed” a statement about interrupted continuation.

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