What Does Mark 6:18 Mean in the King James?

For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.

Mark 6:18 · KJV

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

Having the power to take something does not make it permissible to claim.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks now wherever status or desire is treated as permission: the boundary remains real even when someone has the means to cross it. A bond does not become rightful just because a powerful person can possess it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the lie that whatever I can take or keep is mine by right.

THE ROOT

ἔξεστιν

exestin

GROWS FROM

ἔξεστι

exesti

An impersonal Greek expression meaning “it is permitted” or “it is allowed.”

“lawful” in this verse is exestin. The expression names permission, while the related word for authority shows how closely permission and power can sit together. The verse refuses to let the ability to exercise power stand in for the right to do so.

ALSO GROWS

exousia: authority, right, power

ἐξουσία

This related word brings authority into view: having power does not by itself establish that an act is permitted.

exousiazō: to exercise authority or have power over

ἐξουσιάζω

This active form makes the distinction visible: the capacity to act does not answer whether the act is allowed.

THE PATTERN

A person’s power or claimed right cannot erase a boundary named by truth.

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18:16 · KJVThe boundary around a brother’s wife is stated directly, showing that desire does not dissolve the bond.

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

2 Samuel 12:7 · KJVA king’s position does not shield him when truth names the boundary he has crossed.

Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:29 · KJVHuman authority does not become the final measure of what is right.

THE THREAD

Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.

Leviticus 18:16 · KJV

Leviticus names the same boundary directly: a brother’s wife remains within the brother’s bond. Mark’s phrase “not lawful” opens that boundary into the present, access and authority do not dissolve it.

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