What Does Mark 14:46 Mean in the King James?
And they laid their hands on him, and took him.
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 touch becomes seizure: they cast their hands onto him, then hold him fast.
THE MEANING
You meet force here in its most physical form: hands land on a body, then a grip holds him. The verse names capture plainly, as contact becoming control.
THE ROOT
ἐκράτησαν
ekratēsan
GROWS FROM
κρατ-
krat-
Strength or power expressed through holding fast.
The Greek verb κρατέω (krateō, to hold fast or seize) makes the force in “took” concrete: this is a strong grip, not a neutral change of possession. Paired with hands laid upon him, the words trace capture from contact to control.
ALSO GROWS
kratos: Strength, might, power.
κράτος
The related noun gives the seizure its force: the grip carries power over the person held.
enkratēs: Having mastery or self-control.
ἐγκρατής
The same strength-family can describe mastery; here, that power is exercised by one person over another.
ἐπέβαλον
epébalon
GROWS FROM
βαλλ-
ball-
To throw, cast, or put.
The verb ἐπιβάλλω (epiballō, to cast or lay upon) carries the image of hands being put onto him with force. English “laid” can sound gentle; the Greek keeps the motion of something cast onto a body.
ALSO GROWS
ballō: Throw, cast, or put.
βάλλω
This base verb supplies the physical motion beneath “laid”: the hands are cast onto him.
ekballō: Cast out or drive out.
ἐκβάλλω
The same root presents force as motion imposed on a body; here the hands are cast onto him before the grip closes.
THE PATTERN
Capture turns bodily contact into control.
And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him,And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.THE THREAD
I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.The word translated “took” is the same Greek verb, κρατέω (krateō, to hold fast or seize). The earlier refusal to seize him now gives way to the hands and grip described in this verse.
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