What Does Mark 8:2 Mean in the King James?
I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat:
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 compassion here is an inward ache that stays close enough to notice hunger.
THE MEANING
You are seen in need without that need making you a burden. Compassion remains present through the long stretch of being together, even when hunger is still there.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that prolonged need makes a person too much to stay with.
THE ROOT
σπλαγχνίζομαι
splagchnizomai
GROWS FROM
σπλαγχν-
splagchn-
The inward organs, understood as the seat of deep feeling.
The verb comes from σπλάγχνα (splanchna), meaning “inward parts” or “affections,” so compassion names a feeling arising deep within. Its word family also includes εὔσπλαγχνος (eusplagchnos), meaning “tender-hearted”; here, compassion is bound to the body’s response to the hungry, not distant regard.
ALSO GROWS
splanchna: Inward parts; affections.
σπλάγχνα
This noun makes the bodily depth inside “compassion” audible: the multitude’s hunger reaches inward.
eusplagchnos: Tender-hearted.
εὔσπλαγχνος
This related word shows the same root family describing a quality of feeling, not merely a passing emotion.
THE PATTERN
Compassion sees vulnerability and moves toward the person in it.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.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.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.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” translates the same Greek verb, σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai), as “I have compassion” here. In both verses, the inward movement of compassion meets a person’s need by staying near and responding.
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