What Does Mark 14:51 Mean in the King James?

And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:

Mark 14:51 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Greek verb for seizing shares its stem with a word for strength: here, power takes the shape of a hand closing around a body.

THE MEANING

The force reaching for Jesus also reaches the young man following him. His linen wrap does not keep others from laying hold of him; proximity offers no physical shield.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that being near Jesus makes a person untouchable.

THE ROOT

κρατοῦσιν

kratousin

GROWS FROM

κρατ-

krat-

To hold or grasp with strength; to seize.

“laid hold” in this verse is kratousin. The verb ⁨κρατοῦσιν⁩ shares its stem with ⁨κράτος⁩, meaning strength or power. The grasp is power made physical, closing around the body of the one following.

ALSO GROWS

kratos: Strength, might, power.

κράτος

The shared stem links the act of seizing to the force behind it.

krataioō: To strengthen, make strong.

κραταιόω

This related word carries the same idea of strength that the grasp enacts here.

THE PATTERN

Human covering can conceal vulnerability, but it cannot make the body invulnerable.

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

Genesis 3:7 · KJVAwareness of nakedness leads to an improvised covering, showing how quickly exposure calls forth concealment.

And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job 1:21 · KJVThe verse names the body’s vulnerability beneath all that can be gained or lost.

And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

Mark 14:52 · KJVThe young man’s wrap is left behind as the grasp gives way to flight, making the vulnerability visible.

THE THREAD

And they laid their hands on him, and took him.

Mark 14:46 · KJV

The word rendered “took” here is the same Greek verb, ⁨κρατέω⁩ (krateō), meaning to grasp or seize, as “laid hold” in the current verse. The repeated verb carries the act of capture from Jesus to the young man following him.

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