What Does Matthew 1:21 Mean in the King James?

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:21 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

The name Jesus carries the nature of the rescue: you are brought out from what has narrowed your life.

Deliverance reaches the places where you miss the mark and brings you out from their hold. The name Jesus speaks of this rescue as his nature, not merely as a label. What you are delivered from does not have to define who you are.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that your failures are your name is undone: they are what he comes to deliver you from.

σώσει

sōsei

GROWS FROM

σωζ-

⁨σωζ-⁩ (sōz-, the Greek verbal stem): rescue, preserve, or bring safely through; in other uses, make well.

The verse’s “save” belongs to a word family of rescue and preservation: deliverance brings someone safely through what holds them. The Greek name ⁨Ἰησοῦς⁩ (Iēsous, “Jesus”) carries the Hebrew name ⁨יֵשׁוּעַ⁩ (Yēšūaʿ, “deliverance”), so the name itself speaks the nature of the rescue.

ALSO GROWS

diasōzō: Bring safely through; preserve.

διασῴζω

This compound keeps the ⁨σωζ-⁩ (sōz-) stem and makes the movement through danger visible.

aposōzō: Rescue; preserve from danger.

ἀποσῴζω

This compound also carries the ⁨σωζ-⁩ (sōz-) stem, showing deliverance as being brought out from peril.

יֵשׁוּעַ

Yēšūaʿ

GROWS FROM

ישע

⁨ישע⁩ (y-sh-ʿ, yashaʿ): deliver, open into spaciousness.

The Hebrew name behind Jesus grows from the root of deliverance. A name speaks nature here: the one named embodies movement out of constriction and into spaciousness.

ALSO GROWS

yāshaʿ: Deliver; rescue.

יָשַׁע

This verb makes the name’s deliverance an action: bringing someone out.

yeshuʿah: Deliverance; rescue.

יְשׁוּעָה

This noun names the release carried in the name ⁨יֵשׁוּעַ⁩ (Yēšūaʿ).

mōshiaʿ: Deliverer; rescuer.

מוֹשִׁיעַ

This agent noun shows the root as the nature of the one who brings people out.

ἁμαρτιῶν

hamartiōn

GROWS FROM

ἁμαρτ-

⁨ἁμαρτ-⁩ (hamart-, the Greek stem): missing, erring, or going astray.

“sins” in this verse is hamartiōn. The Greek word here names the misses and errors from which the people are delivered. It does not name their nature; the verse places those misses on the side of what rescue brings them out from.

ALSO GROWS

hamartanō: Miss; err; do wrong.

ἁμαρτάνω

This verb shows the root as the act of missing or going astray.

hamartēma: A mistake; an error or wrong.

ἁμάρτημα

This noun names a particular miss, the kind of thing the verse says deliverance reaches.

Deliverance brings people out of confinement and into freedom.

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Exodus 14:13 · KJVDeliverance moves the people beyond the threat that has held them in place.
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isaiah 61:1 · KJVThe movement out of confinement is named as liberty and the opening of what has been shut.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
John 8:36 · KJVFreedom is the result of the Son’s liberating action.
Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
Psalm 106:8 · KJV

The Hebrew verb translated “saved” comes from ⁨ישע⁩ (yashaʿ, “deliver”), the root carried in the name ⁨יֵשׁוּעַ⁩ (Yēšūaʿ, “deliverance”). The name’s nature is enacted as release: the people are brought out, and the deliverer is known through that act.

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Matthew 1:21 KJV Meaning