What Does Mark 7:26 Mean in the King James?
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
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 requested relief is an expulsion: what afflicts the daughter is to be thrown out of her.
THE MEANING
A mother sees suffering in her daughter and asks that its afflicting presence be removed. Her appeal is direct and concrete: what harms the child is to be cast out.
THE ROOT
ἐκβάλῃ
ekbalē
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
to throw or cast
“cast forth” in this verse is ekbalē. The verb ἐκβάλλω (ekballō, “throw out”) joins ἐκ (ek, “out”) with βάλλω (ballō, “throw”). Its image makes the request directional: what afflicts the daughter is to move from within her to outside her.
ALSO GROWS
kataballō: throw down, cast down
καταβάλλω
It keeps the family’s physical image of throwing, while this verse’s compound sends the force outward.
ballō: throw, cast
βάλλω
This is the underlying action inside “cast forth,” making the request’s image of removal visible.
ἠρώτα
ērōta
GROWS FROM
ἐρωτάω
erōtaō
to ask, request, appeal
“besought” in this verse is ērōta. The imperfect form ἠρώτα (ērōta, “was asking”) presents her appeal in progress. The same verb appears when a father asks Jesus to heal his son in John 4:47, linking these scenes through a parent’s request for a child.
ALSO GROWS
eperōtaō: ask, question, inquire
ἐπερωτάω
The added prefix extends the same asking verb into a question or inquiry.
erōtēma: question, request
ἐρώτημα
The related noun carries asking into the question or request itself.
δαιμόνιον
daimonion
GROWS FROM
δαίμων
daimōn
a spirit or supernatural being; here, a demon
“devil” in this verse is daimonion. The Greek noun δαιμόνιον (daimonion, “demon”) names the afflicting presence she wants cast out. The verse distinguishes what is being expelled from the act of expulsion itself.
ALSO GROWS
daimōn: spirit, supernatural being
δαίμων
This related noun sits behind δαιμόνιον (daimonion), the word for the presence named in the request.
daimonizomai: be afflicted or possessed by a demon
δαιμονίζομαι
This related verb describes a person under the influence of the kind of presence named here.
THE PATTERN
Relief is pictured as healing or deliverance from what afflicts and destroys.
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.THE THREAD
When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.The Greek verb ἐρωτάω (erōtaō, “ask or appeal”) appears in both requests. Here a mother asks for her daughter’s release; in John, a father asks for his son’s healing, and the shared verb joins their appeals for their children.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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