What Does Matthew 1:19 Mean in the King James?
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
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 verse locates justice not in making someone an example, but in refusing to turn her vulnerability into one.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks into the moment when doing what is right and exposing someone seem inseparable: they are not the same. A painful separation can be contemplated while her vulnerability remains out of public view; the verse holds both realities together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that doing what is right requires making another person a public example.
THE ROOT
δίκαιος
dikaios
GROWS FROM
δίκη
dikē
Rightness, justice, what is due.
“just” in this verse is dikaios. Dikaios belongs to a word family that includes dikaiosynē, justice or righteousness, and dikaioō, to justify or declare right. The verse gives that rightness a shape: Joseph does not make her vulnerability a public display.
ALSO GROWS
dikaiosynē: Justice, righteousness
δικαιοσύνη
It names the quality associated with the person called just, linking Joseph’s character to the way he handles this rupture.
dikaioō: Justify, declare right
δικαιόω
It shows another branch of the same family concerned with what is judged or recognized as right.
ἀπολῦσαι
apolysai
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
To loosen or release; in this compound, to release or dismiss.
“put her away” in this verse is apolysai. The verb carries the concrete sense of release or dismissal: Joseph is considering a separation, not merely managing appearances. The word for “privily” shapes how he contemplates it, keeping that release from becoming public exposure.
ALSO GROWS
apolyō: Release, dismiss; also used for sending away or divorcing
ἀπολύω
This is the verb family behind “put her away,” revealing the contemplated separation beneath the English phrase.
katalyō: Take down, dismantle
καταλύω
This compound uses the same λύω root and carries its loosening sense into the image of taking something apart.
THE PATTERN
When a rupture is handled with care, love can limit its spread instead of turning it into public spectacle.
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.THE THREAD
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.Luke uses the same Greek word, dikaios, for Zechariah and Elisabeth, showing the word applied to people described as righteous. Matthew lets that same word’s shape emerge in one difficult choice: Joseph’s refusal to make her a public spectacle.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us