What Does Mark 13:20 Mean in the King James?
And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
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 survival of all flesh depends on the Lord cutting the crisis short, so mercy here takes the form of a limit.
THE MEANING
This verse names a crisis so severe that, if it ran on, no human life would survive it. The Lord limits its duration, and the chosen ones are named as the reason for that restraint.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that catastrophe has no limit is undone: the crisis remains severe, yet its duration is bounded.
THE ROOT
κολοβόω
koloboō
GROWS FROM
κολοβ-
kolob-
To cut short, curtail, or lop off.
“shortened” in this verse is koloboō. The verb carries the force of cutting something off; the days are curtailed, not merely eased. The verse locates survival in that hard boundary: the Lord’s shortening prevents the crisis from consuming every life.
ALSO GROWS
kolobos: Clipped, curtailed, or mutilated.
κολοβός
The adjective preserves the physical image of something cut short, giving the shortened days a sharp edge.
koloboō: To cut short or curtail.
κολοβόω
This verb names the act that bounds the crisis and makes survival possible.
σῴζω
sōzō
GROWS FROM
σω- / σωζ- (sō- / sōz-)
To rescue, deliver, or preserve from danger.
“saved” in this verse is sōzō. The word can hold rescue and preservation together. Here, “no flesh” places that deliverance in the scope of human life as a whole, while the verse names the shortened duration as the means of preservation.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēria: Deliverance or rescue.
σωτηρία
It carries the rescue sense of the verb into the noun “deliverance.”
sōtēr: Deliverer or rescuer.
σωτήρ
It names the one who brings someone through danger.
ἐκλεκτός
eklektos
GROWS FROM
λεγ- (leg-), with ἐκ- (ek-, “out”)
To select or choose out.
“elect / chosen” in this verse is eklektos. The Greek calls them the chosen ones and then says the Lord chose them, repeating the same word family. That echo foregrounds selection as the stated reason for the shortened days without adding a claim about why they were chosen.
ALSO GROWS
eklektos: Chosen or selected.
ἐκλεκτός
This is the word rendered “elect,” naming those who are selected.
eklogē: Choice or selection.
ἐκλογή
This noun makes the choosing itself visible within the word family.
THE PATTERN
Divine restraint places a boundary on what would otherwise overwhelm created life.
For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.THE THREAD
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.Matthew uses the same Greek verb for days being cut short, tying the two sayings together at the root. Its image is of a crisis whose duration is curtailed so life can remain.
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