What Does Mark 4:16 Mean in the King James?
And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
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 stony soil welcomes the word with real joy, but the parable separates a joyful beginning from a rooted life.
THE MEANING
You can receive the word gladly and still be in a shallow place; gladness names the welcome, while the rocky ground names the condition receiving it. The verse holds both together without calling the joy false: an immediate yes can be sincere and still not tell the whole story of what has taken root.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A strong first feeling proves the word has taken root.
THE ROOT
λαμβάνουσιν
lambanousin
GROWS FROM
λαμβ-
lamb-
take, get, receive
“receive” in this verse is lambanousin. The verb carries the motion of taking hold as well as receiving, so this is an actual welcome of the word. The next verse shows that this first act of taking it in is distinct from having root within.
ALSO GROWS
katalambanō: seize, lay hold of, overtake
καταλαμβάνω
This compound keeps the sense of grasping, showing the physical force carried by the family of words behind “receive.”
paralambanō: receive, take along
παραλαμβάνω
This related form joins receiving with taking, echoing the verse’s image of the word being welcomed.
χαρά
chara
GROWS FROM
χαρ-
char-
gladness and rejoicing, in a word-family also linked with favor
The word for gladness belongs to the char- family that also gives χάρις, favor. The line holds joy alongside the welcome of the word, while the rocky setting keeps that joy distinct from rootedness.
ALSO GROWS
chairō: rejoice, be glad
χαίρω
This related verb makes the gladness in the verse part of a wider word-family of rejoicing.
charis: favor; thanks
χάρις
Its shared char- family links gladness with favor and thanks without making them identical meanings.
THE PATTERN
A beginning becomes enduring through a root that can carry it through pressure.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.THE THREAD
And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.The next verse names the hidden limit that verse 16 leaves implicit: no root within. It repeats “immediately”, first with joyful reception, then with stumbling under pressure, so the contrast reveals that speed of response does not determine endurance.
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