What Does Matthew 13:4 Mean in the King James?
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
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 first danger is exposure: what falls beside the path can be taken before it ever takes root.
THE MEANING
The word reaches you as something scattered, but it does not land in the same condition everywhere in you. Where it remains on the exposed path, it can be taken before it settles into the ground. The loss happens at the threshold, before growth begins.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Hearing the word does not mean it has already taken root; this verse shows that it can be taken before it settles within you.
THE ROOT
σπείρειν
speirein
GROWS FROM
σπειρ-
speir-
To sow or scatter seed.
“sowed” in this verse is speirein. The Greek word keeps sowing connected to spreading seed across different ground. The seed is scattered, but where it lands shapes what happens next: beside the path, it stays exposed and can be taken before it enters the ground.
ALSO GROWS
spora: sowing; seed-scattering
σπορά
This related form names the scattering itself, showing that the seed’s exposure is part of where it lands, not a failure to sow.
diaspora: dispersion; scattering
διασπορά
This word carries the same seed-scattering family into the image of being spread outward, echoing how sowing places seed across varied ground without guaranteeing that it takes root.
THE PATTERN
Seed bears fruit when it moves from exposure into a place where it can be held and grow.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.THE THREAD
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.This verse names what the seed is: the word of the kingdom, sown in the heart. It also shows the birds as the wicked one taking it away before understanding, revealing that the loss happens before the seed settles.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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