What Does Matthew 11:26 Mean in the King James?
Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
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
What the translation calls “seemed good” is the Father’s good pleasure at work in how truth is revealed.
THE MEANING
The Father’s pleasure is present in how truth becomes known: what self-assurance cannot claim is given to the receptive. Knowing arrives as a gift held within the Father’s regard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that spiritual understanding can be secured by intellectual rank: revelation is received, not won as proof of superiority.
THE ROOT
εὐδοκία
eudokia
GROWS FROM
δοκ-
dok-
The Greek word εὐδοκία combines εὖ (eu, well) with the δοκ- family of thinking, regarding, or seeming; it means good pleasure or delight.
“Seemed good” carries more than a passing impression: εὐδοκία names good pleasure. The following phrase, “in thy sight,” places that pleasure before the Father, as the way revelation unfolds under his regard.
ALSO GROWS
dokeō: Think, consider, or seem
δοκέω
This verb shows the thought or regard within the word family; here, the Father’s regard is expressed as good pleasure.
doxa: Opinion, reputation, honor, or glory
δόξα
This related word carries the sense of what is thought or held in esteem, echoing how the Father’s regard sets the measure of what is honored.
eudokeō: Be pleased with or take delight in
εὐδοκέω
This verb makes explicit the delight carried by εὐδοκία: the verse speaks of what pleases the Father.
THE PATTERN
The Father’s good pleasure makes revelation a gift that overturns human measures of worth.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;THE THREAD
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.Luke repeats the same Greek εὐδοκία (“good pleasure”) phrase and ties it directly to what is hidden from the wise and revealed to babes. The shared wording makes the Father’s pleasure the hinge of the reversal: revelation is given where status expects to own it.
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