What Does Mark 15:46 Mean in the King James?
And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.
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 verb translated “laid” returns in the resurrection announcement, tying this burial to a specific place that can be pointed out.
THE MEANING
You see Jesus’ body handled with care: Joseph takes it down, wraps it in linen, and places it in a tomb cut from rock. The rolled stone gives the burial a visible, physical boundary. Tenderness and the hard reality of death occupy the same scene.
THE ROOT
ἔθηκεν
ethēken
GROWS FROM
θε- / θη- (the- / thē-)
to put, place, or set
The Greek verb τίθημι names the act of placing, and Mark uses the same verb again when the messenger points to the place where they laid Jesus. The wording keeps the burial tied to a specific body and location.
ALSO GROWS
thesis: placing, position
θέσις
A position is what results from placing; the branch keeps the verse’s deliberate act of setting the body somewhere in view.
epitithēmi: place upon, lay on
ἐπιτίθημι
This compound preserves the same act of placing, making the verb’s physical sense clear.
μνημείῳ
mnēmeiō
GROWS FROM
μνημ-
mnēm-
memory, remembrance
“sepulchre” in this verse is mnēmeiō. The Greek word for tomb belongs to the same word family as memory and memorial. The place is still a physical grave, cut from rock and closed by a stone, while its name carries the sense of remembrance.
ALSO GROWS
mnēmoneuō: remember, recall
μνημονεύω
The shared stem links the tomb’s name with the act of remembering.
mnēmosynon: memorial, reminder
μνημόσυνον
This branch makes explicit the memorial sense carried by the word family.
THE PATTERN
A body placed among the dead can become the visible site where life answers death.
And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.THE THREAD
And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.Mark repeats the verb τίθημι: Joseph “laid” Jesus in the tomb, and the messenger points to the place where they “laid” him. The repeated word ties the announcement to the particular burial described here.
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