What Does Matthew 11:13 Mean in the King James?
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
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
By saying the law itself “prophesied,” the verse makes instruction and prophecy one shared witness reaching toward John.
THE MEANING
The verse places the prophets and the law in one stream of witness, both speaking toward a threshold named John. That witness still reaches you: words spoken ahead of time can become recognizable as the present arrives. John marks the hinge where long expectation meets a voice in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that the law only gives rules while the prophets alone speak toward what is coming: here, both are said to prophesy.
THE ROOT
ἐπροφήτευσαν
eprophēteusan
GROWS FROM
φημί
phēmi
To say, speak, or declare.
Matthew’s verb for “prophesied” belongs to a Greek word family built around φημί (phēmi, “to say, speak”). The sentence places the law inside the speaking witness alongside the prophets, showing that its words, too, point toward the threshold named John.
ALSO GROWS
phēmi: To say or speak.
φημί
This basic speech element reveals prophecy as utterance, making the law part of the verse’s speaking witness.
prophētēs: A prophet; one who speaks as a prophetic messenger.
προφήτης
This is the related noun for the prophets named beside the law, linking their identity to the act of prophesying.
prophēteia: Prophecy; prophetic speech or utterance.
προφητεία
This related noun names the speech that the verse attributes to both the prophets and the law.
THE PATTERN
Scripture’s witness moves from words spoken beforehand to a present voice announcing what is at hand.
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;THE THREAD
The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.Matthew’s “prophesied” and Luke’s “prophets” belong to the same Greek word family. Luke makes the hinge explicit: with John named, the kingdom is preached.
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