What Does Matthew 13:56 Mean in the King James?
And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
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 question recognizes what is present and searches for its source: knowing someone’s place among you does not explain all that comes through them.
THE MEANING
You can know a person’s household and still find that what comes through them outruns your explanation. The question recognizes what is present while searching for its source. Familiarity tells you who belongs beside you; it does not tell you all that can come through them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Knowing where someone belongs means I already know the full measure and source of what they can carry.
THE ROOT
πόθεν
pothen
GROWS FROM
πο- + -θεν (interrogative base + source suffix)
From where; the suffix -θεν marks origin or movement from a place.
“Whence” in this verse is pothen. The question acknowledges that these things are present and asks where they come from. Its focus is their source, which the familiar account of this person cannot explain.
ALSO GROWS
hothen: From where; whence
ὅθεν
It shares the source-marking -θεν and keeps attention on where something originates.
ekeithen: From there
ἐκεῖθεν
The same suffix marks a point of origin, making clear that this question is about where something comes from.
anōthen: From above; from the top
ἄνωθεν
It uses the same source suffix while naming a particular point of origin.
ἀδελφαί
adelphai
GROWS FROM
ἀδελφ-
adelph-
Sibling or member of one family; the word is traditionally connected with the idea of sharing a womb.
English makes “sisters” sound like a category apart, while Greek places it in the same sibling word-family as “brother” and “brotherhood.” The verse sets shared kinship beside a question of origin: belonging is clear, but it does not explain the source of what he has.
ALSO GROWS
adelphos: Brother
ἀδελφός
It shares the sibling root with “sisters,” showing the family bond as one word-family.
adelphotēs: Brotherhood; sibling community
ἀδελφότης
It extends the same kinship root from individual siblings to a community bound as family.
THE PATTERN
What a person carries can exceed the familiar account others have of where it came from.
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.THE THREAD
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.The same Greek sibling word-family appears here, but kinship reaches beyond a shared household. This widens the meaning of “sister” while leaving the question of where a person’s gifts come from open.
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