What Does Mark 14:7 Mean in the King James?
For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always.
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
Ongoing need does not make every present moment interchangeable.
THE MEANING
Need remains close, and doing good remains possible whenever you choose. At the same time, the person before you is not endlessly present; continuing need and a singular moment can both be true.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that because need continues, a singular act of love is misplaced; care for the poor and attention to the person before you can both be real.
THE ROOT
πτωχούς
ptōchous
GROWS FROM
πτωχ- (ptōch-), a Greek word-family stem traditionally linked to πτώσσω (ptōssō, “to crouch or cower”)
A word family for poverty and exposed dependence, traditionally associated with crouching or cowering.
English gathers many conditions under “poor”; this Greek word family carries an image of vulnerability and dependence beneath the social category. Here, the poor are people whose need remains present, while the capacity to do good remains open.
ALSO GROWS
ptōcheia: poverty
πτωχεία
The same word family names poverty in 2 Corinthians 8:9, where the condition is applied to Jesus.
ptōcheuō: to become poor
πτωχεύω
This verb is used in 2 Corinthians 8:9 for becoming poor, linking the ongoing presence of the poor here with self-giving there.
THE PATTERN
When need persists, goodness remains an open and repeated act.
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.THE THREAD
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.The same Greek word family appears in “became poor” and “poverty.” It connects the poor who remain near in Mark with a figure who enters poverty through self-giving, opening the word beyond a social category.
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