What Does Matthew 12:12 Mean in the King James?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
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 Sabbath cannot forbid the good that its own protection of a sheep already permits.
THE MEANING
You are worth more than a sheep whose rescue is already treated as permissible. Doing good remains lawful on the Sabbath, so care for a person belongs within the day’s purpose.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that reverence requires withholding help on a sacred day.
THE ROOT
καλῶς
kalōs
GROWS FROM
καλ
Good, fitting, beautiful
“well” in this verse is kalōs. The verse describes the action as καλῶς: goodness that is fitting and beautiful in its doing. Its word family lets care appear as goodness taking shape, not as an interruption of goodness.
ALSO GROWS
kalos: Good, noble, beautiful
καλός
The adjective behind καλῶς links doing well with an act that is good and fitting.
kallos: Beauty
κάλλος
This related form shares the καλ consonants and shows how Greek holds goodness and beauty close together.
ποιεῖν
poiein
GROWS FROM
ποι
Make, do, bring forth
“do” in this verse is poiein. The verse speaks of doing good as an action that takes form in the world. This root family connects the deed to what is made, making the goodness visible in what happens to the person who receives care.
ALSO GROWS
poiētēs: Maker, doer
ποιητής
This word shares the ποι family and names one who brings an action or work about.
poiēma: A thing made, a work
ποίημα
This branch names what is made, connecting the verse’s doing to the concrete result of the act.
THE PATTERN
Sabbath rest is ordered to let living creatures be relieved and cared for.
Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?THE THREAD
And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.Mark uses the same Greek family for “good” (καλός) and “do” (ποιέω), making the question explicit: Sabbath action is weighed by whether it does good or harm. Its contrast between saving life and killing opens Matthew’s “do well” as life-preserving action.
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