What Does Mark 16:14 Mean in the King James?
Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
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 same Greek trust-root names both their unbelief and their failure to trust the witnesses, revealing the hardened heart in what testimony it refuses to receive.
THE MEANING
The risen one stands before the reader and names a refusal to trust, including the refusal to receive the witness of those who have seen him. The verse joins the inward state and outward response: distrust becomes hardness of heart, exposed by the presence of the risen one.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that withholding trust from others’ testimony leaves the heart neutral; it names that resistance hardness of heart.
THE ROOT
ἀπιστία
apistia
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, reliance, or confidence.
“unbelief / believed not” in this verse is apistia. The negative prefix in ἀπιστία (apistia, lack of trust) turns the trust-root into its absence, and the same root returns in ἠπίστησαν (ēpistēsan, they did not trust). The verse ties their inward unbelief directly to their refusal to receive the witnesses’ report.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust or reliance.
πίστις
This is the noun family behind unbelief; the verse turns on whether trust is present.
pisteuō: To trust or believe.
πιστεύω
This verb names the act of trusting that the witnesses’ testimony calls for.
ēpistēsan: They did not trust.
ἠπίστησαν
This is the verse’s repeated trust-root in the explanation of why Jesus rebukes them.
σκληροκαρδία
sklērokardia
GROWS FROM
σκληρ- (sklēr-, hard) + καρδι- (kardi-, heart)
A compound joining hardness or rigidity with the heart, the inner center.
“hardness of heart” in this verse is sklērokardia. The Greek compresses hard and heart into one word, showing that their response is more than a passing doubt: resistance has settled in the inner center. Placed beside the repeated trust-root, the compound makes the inner condition visible in their rejection of testimony.
ALSO GROWS
sklēros: Hard, rigid, or harsh.
σκληρός
This is the hard quality carried into the compound describing the heart.
sklērynō: To harden.
σκληρύνω
This verb shows hardness as a condition that can take hold within a person.
kardia: Heart, the inner center.
καρδία
This names where the verse locates the hardness.
THE PATTERN
The heart’s posture becomes visible in whether it receives the testimony of what has been seen and spoken.
And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.THE THREAD
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.Mark pairs ἀπιστία (apistia, lack of trust) and ἠπίστησαν (ēpistēsan, they did not trust), both from πιστ- (pist-, trust); John uses πιστεύω (pisteuō, trust or believe) from the same family. The shared root spans refusal after hearing witnesses and trust after encounter, while Jesus also names trust that does not depend on sight.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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