What Does Mark 9:47 Mean in the King James?
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
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
When your eye becomes the snare, the verse names its removal as preferable to keeping both eyes and being cast into the fire.
THE MEANING
The command remains severe: if your eye ensnares you, pluck it out; entering the governance of God with one eye is better than being cast into the fire with both. The verse places bodily loss beside destruction and gives no reason to preserve the offending part at any cost.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whatever is part of you must be kept, even when it carries you toward destruction.
THE ROOT
σκανδαλίζῃ
skandalizē
GROWS FROM
σκανδαλ-
skandal-
A word family for a trap, snare, or cause of stumbling.
“Offend” here carries the sharper image of being tripped or ensnared. The eye is named by the danger it creates: it can become the snare that pulls you toward a fall.
ALSO GROWS
skandalon: trap, snare, or cause of stumbling
σκάνδαλον
The noun reveals the trap-like image beneath the verse’s “offend.”
skandalizō: cause to stumble or ensnare
σκανδαλίζω
This verb names an active force that trips someone, rather than a mere irritation.
ἔξελε
exele
GROWS FROM
αἱρέω (haireō), with ἐξ- (ex-, out)
The word family carries the sense of taking or choosing; the prefix gives the command its force of taking out.
“pluck out” in this verse is exele. The verse’s image is removal: the eye that ensnares is taken out. Its stark verb matches the stark comparison between losing an eye and being cast into the fire.
ALSO GROWS
exaireō: take out, remove, or rescue
ἐξαιρέω
This related verb makes the force of “pluck out” plain: something is taken away.
haireomai: choose or take for oneself
αἱρέομαι
The shared stem retains the idea of taking, showing the action beneath the command.
βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
basileia tou theou
GROWS FROM
βασιλ-
basil-
Royal rule or governance.
“kingdom of God” in this verse is basileia tou theou. The destination is not only a place called a kingdom; the word also carries the sense of living under God’s rule. The verse measures the loss of one eye against entry into that governance.
ALSO GROWS
basileus: king
βασιλεύς
The related noun names the ruler whose authority defines the governance.
basileuō: reign or rule
βασιλεύω
This verb makes the active sense of the governance in “kingdom” visible.
THE PATTERN
What becomes a cause of stumbling is dangerous enough to remove, restrain, or never place in another’s path.
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.THE THREAD
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.Matthew uses the same word rendered “offend” for making one of the little ones stumble. The shared word widens the danger: what ensnares you can also become something placed in another person’s path, and the millstone image keeps that harm severe.
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