What Does Mark 8:20 Mean in the King James?
And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.
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 word for “fragments” grows from “to break”: what has been broken becomes the countable remainder of abundance.
THE MEANING
This question turns your attention to what remains after the four thousand are fed: seven baskets of fragments. The broken pieces are gathered and counted, making the remainder visible. Even in pieces, abundance remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only an intact whole counts as abundance: these broken pieces are gathered and counted.
THE ROOT
κλάσμα
klasma
GROWS FROM
κλα-
kla-
break, break apart
The word for fragments, κλάσμα (klasma, a broken piece), belongs to the same Greek word family as κλάω (klaō, to break), the verb used for breaking the loaves. The language ties the gathered remainder to the act of breaking: abundance becomes visible in the pieces.
ALSO GROWS
klaō: Break, break apart.
κλάω
This is the verb used when the loaves are broken before distribution, linking the gathered pieces to the action that precedes the meal.
klasis: Breaking, including the breaking of bread.
κλάσις
This related word keeps the shared action present: bread is distributed through being broken into pieces.
THE PATTERN
Provision is shown by the remainder that can still be gathered after everyone has eaten.
So he set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the LORD.And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.THE THREAD
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.Mark 8:20 recalls a count of fragments; John 6:12 uses the same Greek word, κλάσμα (klasma, a broken piece), and says they are gathered so nothing is lost. The connection makes the remainder more than a number: each piece matters enough to be gathered.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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