What Does Matthew 13:22 Mean in the King James?
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
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 thorns do not take away the seed; they choke its ability to bear fruit.
THE MEANING
The word is received in you, yet the concerns of this age and the deception of riches can crowd it until it bears no fruit. Receiving the word is real, and fruitlessness can still grow alongside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that receiving the word means its fruit is already assured dissolves here: the seed can be present while its growth is choked.
THE ROOT
συμπνίγει
sympnigei
GROWS FROM
πνιγ-
pnig-
to choke or smother
“choke” in this verse is sympnigei. The verb pictures the word being pressed in and suffocated by what grows around it. The seed remains received, but the surrounding growth closes in on its fruitfulness.
ALSO GROWS
pnigō: to choke or suffocate
πνίγω
This is the underlying verb stem carried into the verse’s image of the word being choked.
sympnigō: to choke or press in together
συμπνίγω
This is the verb used here; it makes the choking feel like pressure from surrounding growth.
ἄκαρπος
akarpos
GROWS FROM
καρπ-
karp-
fruit or produce
“Unfruitful” still carries the word for fruit: ἄκαρπος (akarpos) is formed from καρπός (karpos), fruit, with a negating prefix. The verse describes not a missing seed but a seed whose growth does not reach its fruit.
ALSO GROWS
karpos: fruit or produce
καρπός
This is the fruit named within “unfruitful,” showing what the choking prevents.
karpophoreō: to bear fruit
καρποφορέω
This verb grows from the same fruit-root and gives the positive counterpart to the condition in the verse.
THE PATTERN
What is received can remain present while surrounding growth prevents it from bearing fruit.
And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.THE THREAD
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.Luke uses συμπνίγονται (sympnigontai, “are choked”), from the same root as Matthew’s συμπνίγει (sympnigei, “chokes”). It adds the pleasures of this life to the cares and riches, and shows the result as fruit that never reaches completion.
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