What Does Matthew 13:58 Mean in the King James?

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Matthew 13:58 · KJV

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 word translated “unbelief” belongs to the same root family as trust: what is missing is reliance, not information.

THE MEANING

Few mighty works occur where trust is absent. Here, “unbelief” names a failure of reliance, not simply a lack of information. Trust is the leaning of full weight onto what is present; without it, the encounter remains constricted.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that power alone guarantees a fruitful encounter: this verse links the few mighty works with the people’s lack of trust.

THE ROOT

ἀπιστία

apistia

GROWS FROM

πιστ-

pist-

Trust and reliability; the quality of being dependable.

English makes “unbelief” sound like an opinion, but the Greek keeps it in the same word family as trust and steadiness. The verse names a failure of reliance as the condition accompanying the few mighty works.

ALSO GROWS

pistis: Trust, reliance.

πίστις

This is the positive form of the same family: the trust missing in “unbelief.”

pistos: Firm, steady; trustworthy.

πιστός

It shows that this word family holds reliance together with the quality of being dependable.

apistos: Untrusting; without trust.

ἄπιστος

This related form makes the negative sense in ⁨ἀπιστία⁩ visible: trust is absent.

THE PATTERN

Trust is the point of contact through which people receive, become established, or enter; its absence narrows that opening.

And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.

Isaiah 7:9 · KJVThe Hebrew root ⁨אמן⁩ (ʾ-m-n, firm or steady) links “believe” with “be established,” joining trust and steadiness in one word family.

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:19 · KJVThe same lack of trust is named as preventing entry; what is missing closes a passage, just as it accompanies few mighty works here.

And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

Mark 6:5-6 · KJVThe same response appears beside the same kind of limited mighty works, making the link between trust and works explicit.

THE THREAD

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:19 · KJV

Hebrews uses the same Greek noun, ⁨ἀπιστία⁩ (apistia, lack of trust), that appears here. Matthew links it with few mighty works; Hebrews links it with failed entry, bringing blocked reception and blocked passage into the same pattern.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us