What Does Matthew 12:29 Mean in the King James?
Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
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 house is entered by binding its keeper first: the grip on the goods must be interrupted before they can be taken.
THE MEANING
The verse presents deliverance as an interruption of the grip that protects a domain: the one holding power is bound before the house is entered. Once that restraint is in place, the goods are exposed to seizure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that what a stronger power holds is permanently beyond reach dissolves here: the holder can be restrained, and the guarded house can be entered.
THE ROOT
δήσῃ
dēsē
GROWS FROM
δε-
de-
To tie or bind.
The Greek word pictures the strong man’s freedom of action being tied up before the house is entered. English can make “bind” sound like a detail; the same word family also names bonds and the people held in them, joining restraint with captivity.
ALSO GROWS
desmos: Bond, tie, or fetter.
δέσμος
The bond is the restraint that makes the strong man unable to guard his goods.
desmios: A bound person or prisoner.
δέσμιος
This branch names the condition that follows binding: the one who held power can himself be held.
ἰσχυρόν
ischyron
GROWS FROM
ἰσχυ-
ischy-
Strength, force, or capacity to prevail.
“strong man” in this verse is ischyron. The word points to strength as an active capacity, not merely a reputation for power. The verse sets that capacity beside binding: strength can dominate a house, yet it can also be restrained.
ALSO GROWS
ischys: Strength or might.
ἰσχύς
This is the force that lets the strong man hold the house and its goods.
ischyō: To be strong, have power, or prevail.
ἰσχύω
The contrast is between power that can act freely and power stopped by binding.
THE PATTERN
What a captor holds becomes accessible when the power guarding it is overcome or restrained.
But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;THE THREAD
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.The same Greek verb, δέω (deō), appears here as “bind” and in Jesus’ words about binding on earth. In this verse, binding restrains the keeper before the house is entered; in Matthew 16:19, the same root links binding with the authority to loose.
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