What Does Mark 14:58 Mean in the King James?
We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
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 witnesses make Jesus both demolisher and builder, but the contrast between “made with hands” and “without hands” exposes a dwelling no human craft can produce.
THE MEANING
This verse puts a claim on trial: it contrasts a sanctuary made by human hands with one that human hands cannot make. The testimony assigns both destruction and replacement to Jesus, while the words themselves open a deeper question about where the temple truly is.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that Jesus says he will personally destroy the sanctuary and replace it; his saying in John puts the destruction in others’ hands and the raising in his.
THE ROOT
ἀχειροποίητον
acheiropoiēton
GROWS FROM
ποιέω
poieō
make, do
“made without hands” in this verse is acheiropoiēton. The phrase ἀχειροποίητον (acheiropoiēton, not made by hands) negates χειροποίητος (cheiropoiētos, made by hands), and both carry ποιέω (poieō, make or do). The contrast sets human making against a reality that human hands do not produce.
ALSO GROWS
cheiropoiētos: made by hands
χειροποίητος
This is the positive form the verse negates, making the contrast between human craft and what lies beyond it explicit.
poiēma: a thing made, workmanship
ποίημα
This word names the result of making; the verse’s phrase denies that the sanctuary’s source is human workmanship.
καταλύσω
katalysō
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
loosen, unbind
καταλύσω (katalysō, I will destroy) comes from καταλύω (katalyō, dismantle or tear down), built around λύω (lyō, loosen). The verb gives the accusation’s destruction a texture of loosening a structure down, set beside οἰκοδομήσω (oikodomēsō, I will build) as its mirror.
ALSO GROWS
lysis: release, loosening, dissolution
λύσις
This noun makes the unbinding within the destruction verb visible.
apolyō: release, dismiss
ἀπολύω
This related verb carries the same root’s sense of loosening something free, illuminating the force of καταλύω (katalyō, dismantle).
THE PATTERN
The living presence of God exceeds every sacred structure human hands can build.
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;THE THREAD
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.The shared word ναός (naos, temple) reveals the reversal: Jesus tells others to destroy the temple, then says he will raise it. Mark’s testimony shifts the destruction into Jesus’s hands and turns raising into building another sanctuary.
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