What Does Mark 13:4 Mean in the King James?

Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?

Mark 13:4 · 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 sign is sought as a way to recognize completion while it is still ahead.

THE MEANING

The verse gives your question two parts: when what is unfolding reaches completion, and what marker will let you recognize it. The word behind “fulfilled” carries the sense of being brought to its end, so the question reaches beyond a date to the point where the whole becomes recognizable.

THE ROOT

συντελεῖσθαι

synteleisthai

GROWS FROM

τελέω

teleō

Bring to an end; complete or accomplish.

“fulfilled” in this verse is synteleisthai. This word family holds “end” and “goal” together: the endpoint is what a process is being carried toward. The sign they ask for would make that arrival recognizable.

ALSO GROWS

telos: End, goal, or outcome.

τέλος

It shows that completion can carry the sense of reaching the goal of a course.

teleioō: Bring to completion or make complete.

τελειόω

It shares the root’s movement toward a state of completion.

synteleia: Completion or consummation.

συντέλεια

It names the arrival of a completion, echoing the moment the question asks how to recognize.

THE PATTERN

A visible sign makes a covenant or unfolding event recognizable through a concrete marker.

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:13 · KJVThe bow is a visible marker by which the covenant is recognized.

And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Exodus 12:13 · KJVThe blood serves as a visible token that marks the houses in the unfolding event.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

Matthew 24:3 · KJVThe question again joins the timing of completion with a sign that makes it recognizable.

THE THREAD

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 19:30 · KJV

The Greek “It is finished” comes from the same ⁨τελέω⁩ word family as “fulfilled” in Mark. The shared root lets completion appear as a course brought to its end, the very arrival the question seeks a sign to recognize.

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