What Does Mark 6:34 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.
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
Compassion here is not a feeling at a distance: it is inward movement that becomes guidance for people left without a shepherd.
THE MEANING
You are seen in the need beneath the crowd: when guidance is missing, compassion recognizes the condition and answers by teaching. Care does not stop at feeling; it gives direction to people left without a shepherd.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The absence of a shepherd does not mean you are unseen or beyond care; it is precisely the condition compassion notices.
THE ROOT
ἐσπλαγχνίσθη
esplagchnisthē
GROWS FROM
σπλαγχν-
splagchn-
the inward organs, the body’s deep seat of feeling
“moved with compassion” in this verse is esplagchnisthē. English “compassion” can sound like a feeling about someone, but this word grows from the body’s inward parts. Here, the crowd’s need reaches inward and becomes action: he teaches the people who lack a shepherd.
ALSO GROWS
splanchna: The inner organs; by extension, the seat of deep feeling.
σπλάγχνα
This is the bodily image beneath the compassion in the verse.
eusplangchnos: Deeply compassionate or tenderhearted.
εὔσπλαγχνος
The shared stem carries inward feeling into a description of a compassionate nature.
splagchnizomai: To be moved inwardly with compassion.
σπλαγχνίζομαι
This verb gives the inward response its movement, which in this verse becomes teaching.
ἰδών
idōn
GROWS FROM
ὁράω
horaō
to see, behold, perceive
“Saw” can sound like a passing glance, but this verb belongs to seeing and perceiving. His attention recognizes the crowd’s condition, sheep without a shepherd, and compassion responds to what is truly there.
ALSO GROWS
horō: A form of the verb meaning to see or perceive.
ὁρῶ
It keeps the verse’s seeing connected to awareness, not mere looking.
horasis: Sight or a vision.
ὅρασις
This related word shows the same seeing family can name what is perceived.
THE PATTERN
When people lack a shepherd, they are exposed and scattered; care sees their condition and answers with guidance.
Which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd.And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.THE THREAD
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.“Had compassion” uses the same Greek verb family as “was moved with compassion” here. In Mark, that inward movement becomes teaching; in Luke, it becomes a father running to embrace his child.
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