What Does Mark 6:46 Mean in the King James?
And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
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 Greek shifts from repeated “away” to “toward”: this solitude is not mere absence but a movement oriented toward prayer.
THE MEANING
The verse holds two directions together: he leaves the company around him, then turns toward prayer. The prayer word carries the sense of “toward,” so solitude has an orientation rather than being mere absence. That movement remains present: distance from others can become space directed toward God.
THE ROOT
προσεύξασθαι
proseuxasthai
GROWS FROM
εὔχομαι
euchomai
Pray or express a wish; joined with πρός (pros, “toward” or “to”), it forms a word for directed prayer.
“to pray” in this verse is proseuxasthai. The English “pray” gives the act but hides its built-in direction: πρός (pros, “toward”) joins εὔχομαι (euchomai, “pray” or “wish”). Prayer here is not empty withdrawal; it turns toward.
ALSO GROWS
euchomai: Pray; wish.
εὔχομαι
This verb supplies the prayer or expressed desire at the heart of the compound.
proseuchē: Prayer.
προσευχή
This noun comes from the same compound and names the practice toward which the verse turns.
ἀποταξάμενος
apotaxamenos
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
Set in order, appoint, or assign; ἀποτάσσομαι (apotassomai) can mean take leave or say farewell.
“sent them away” in this verse is apotaxamenos. The participle describes taking leave; then ἀπῆλθεν (apēlthen, “he went away”) repeats ἀπό (apo, “away” or “from”). The repeated movement away is followed by prayer, whose compound begins with πρός (pros, “toward”).
ALSO GROWS
taxis: Order; arrangement.
τάξις
This related noun carries the base family’s sense of setting things in order.
syntassō: Arrange together; instruct.
συντάσσω
This related verb shares the τάσσω (tassō) base; the verse’s compound uses it in a leave-taking sense.
THE PATTERN
Prayer turns a person toward God and can follow a deliberate withdrawal from surrounding company.
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.THE THREAD
And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.Luke uses the same Greek prayer verb, προσεύχομαι (proseuchomai, “to pray”), and describes him withdrawing into the wilderness. The shared root makes the movement clear: the withdrawal has a direction, toward prayer.
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