What Does Matthew 14:1 Mean in the King James?
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
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
Jesus reaches Herod first as “fame”, a Greek word built from the same root as “heard”, so the deliverer enters power’s world through what is heard.
THE MEANING
This verse places the report of Jesus inside a ruler’s hearing: deliverance reaches even a seat of political power as something people are already saying. For you, the name may arrive through others’ words before you encounter Jesus directly; hearing opens a threshold, while the verse leaves the response open.
THE ROOT
ἤκουσεν
ēkousen
GROWS FROM
ἀκούω
akouō
To hear or listen.
“heard / fame” in this verse is ēkousen. The Greek repeats the same hearing-root in “heard” and “fame”: Herod hears the report of Jesus. English turns one root into an action and a reputation, hiding that fame is what has been heard and carried from person to person.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; what is heard, including a report.
ἀκοή
This is the word translated “fame,” revealing that the report itself is an act of hearing passed along.
hypakouō: To listen to or obey.
ὑπακούω
This related branch shows that hearing can lead into response, though this verse leaves Herod’s response unresolved.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yēšūaʿ
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-sh-ʿ
To deliver, bringing someone out of constriction into spaciousness.
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, from yasha: deliverance that brings a person out of narrowness into spaciousness. Here, that nature reaches the ruler first as a report.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance or rescue.
יְשׁוּעָה
The shared root lets the name Jesus carry the nature of deliverance into the verse.
moshia: One who delivers or rescues.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This branch names the one who brings deliverance, deepening what Herod hears about Jesus.
THE PATTERN
A report can carry a name ahead of direct encounter, bringing someone into awareness before they see for themselves.
And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.THE THREAD
And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.Luke gives the same Herod hearing many things of Jesus and then seeing him. The repeated root ἀκούω (akouō, hear) connects the verses, while the movement from report to presence makes the difference visible.
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