What Does Matthew 13:29 Mean in the King James?
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
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 danger is not only that weeds grow beside wheat; pulling one can tear up the other.
THE MEANING
The field is mixed, and the growth is entangled enough that removing one can damage the other. Here, the wheat’s life is protected by waiting until separation can happen without uprooting what is growing beside the tares.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that every harmful thing must be removed immediately, whatever else its roots disturb, does not hold here. The attempt to remove the tares can destroy the wheat too.
THE ROOT
ἐκριζώσητε
ekrizōsēte
GROWS FROM
ῥιζ-
rhiz-
Root; the part of a plant held beneath the ground.
“root up” in this verse is ekrizōsēte. The Greek verb carries the root image directly: removing the tares means disturbing what holds the neighboring wheat in place. The same word-family describes both what is rooted and what is uprooted, bringing the hidden cost of separation into view.
ALSO GROWS
rhiza: root
ῥίζα
This noun names the part the verb acts on: the risk reaches beneath the visible stalks, into what anchors the wheat.
rhizoō: to take root, to root
ῥιζόω
This related verb describes establishment; the verse’s uprooting threatens growth that has already taken hold.
errizōmenoi: rooted
ἐρριζωμένοι
This form appears in Colossians 2:7; its image of being rooted helps show what can be damaged when neighboring growth is pulled away.
THE PATTERN
When growth is intertwined, separation waits for a time when it will not uproot what is meant to remain.
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.THE THREAD
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.The next verse reveals that the restraint here has a season and an endpoint: both grow together until harvest. Waiting preserves the wheat until separation can happen without pulling it up with the tares.
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