What Does Mark 4:9 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
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 verse turns hearing from a bodily capacity into active reception: having ears is not yet the same as hearing.
THE MEANING
You have ears for hearing, yet the verse treats that capacity as a beginning, not a completion. Its words meet you now as something that can be received deeply enough to register, rather than passing as sound.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having access to the words is not the same as having heard them; the verse undoes the assumption that exposure alone equals reception.
THE ROOT
ἀκούω
akouō
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
The Greek verbal stem for hearing, listening, and giving heed.
The verse uses this same stem twice: first for ears made to hear, then in the command to hear. English repeats the word, but the Greek forms move from the capacity for hearing to hearing actively received.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; what is heard or reported.
ἀκοή
This noun names hearing as the way a message arrives; Romans 10:17 uses it for hearing the word.
hypakouō: To listen under; to heed or obey.
ὑπακούω
This branch shows how hearing can extend into response: listening is not always complete at the moment sound reaches the ear.
parakouō: To hear amiss, neglect, or disregard what is heard.
παρακούω
This branch reveals the other possibility hidden in the image of ears: a message can reach someone without being received.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents hearing as reception that opens into response and life.
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.Romans uses ἀκοή (akoē, “hearing” or “report”), a noun from the same Greek stem as the repeated “hear” in Mark. Here the stem moves from ears made for hearing to hearing enacted; Romans shows the word arriving through that hearing.
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