What Does Mark 13:12 Mean in the King James?
Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
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 word translated “betray” means “hand over,” so the verse shows violence entering the family as an act of handing one person over to another.
THE MEANING
This verse names violence reaching into the closest bonds: a brother hands his brother over, and parents and children turn against one another. The betrayal has a lethal consequence; it is more than wounded trust.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that family guarantees protection: here, kinship itself can become the route by which someone is handed over to death.
THE ROOT
παραδώσει
paradōsei
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give or grant; the compound παραδίδωμι means to hand over, deliver up, or betray.
English “betray” can sound like disloyalty in the abstract, but the Greek verb keeps the concrete act of handing someone over. The same root for giving also appears in words for repaying and sharing, revealing how the act of giving can become a handoff into danger.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: Hand over, deliver up, betray
παραδίδωμι
This is the verb used in the verse: the brother hands his brother over to death.
apodidōmi: Give back, repay
ἀποδίδωμι
The same root names giving in return, showing that didōmi carries the sense of something passing from one person to another.
metadidōmi: Share, impart
μεταδίδωμι
Here the root names giving as sharing; in the verse, giving takes the terrible form of handing a person over.
ἐπαναστήσονται
epanastēsontai
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι
histēmi
To stand or set; in ἐπανίστημι, to rise up against.
“rise up against” in this verse is epanastēsontai. The Greek preserves the bodily image of standing against someone, rather than leaving the conflict as an abstract disagreement. Its related verb ἀνίστημι can also mean to rise, but here this uprising within the household leads to the stated outcome: death.
ALSO GROWS
anistēmi: Rise, stand up
ἀνίστημι
This related verb keeps the physical sense of rising that is present in the children’s opposition.
stasis: Standing, faction, insurrection
στάσις
This noun shows how the language of standing can also describe a divided or insurgent group, echoing the fracture within the household.
THE PATTERN
Violence can enter through the bonds of kinship, turning family loyalty into opposition and betrayal.
And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.THE THREAD
But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.The Greek verb behind “deliver you up” in verse 11 is παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), the same verb behind “betray” here: both verses describe someone being handed over. Verse 11 places that handover before rulers; verse 12 brings the same act into the family and names its lethal end.
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