What Does Matthew 14:10 Mean in the King James?
And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
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
“Prison” belongs to the word-family of guarding: John is held in the very place where a ruler’s command can reach him.
THE MEANING
A ruler’s command reaches a confined person: John is beheaded inside the prison. The guarded enclosure offers no protection from the power controlling it; it becomes the place where that power is enacted.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being confined under guard does not make a person safe; custody can leave a body entirely within another’s reach.
THE ROOT
φυλακή
phylakē
GROWS FROM
φυλακ- / φυλασσ- (phylak- / phylass-)
Guarding, keeping watch; the word-family also names a watch or guard post and a prison.
The noun translated “prison” belongs to the same Greek word-family as guarding and keeping watch. Here, the guarded place becomes the site where a ruler’s order reaches John’s body.
ALSO GROWS
phylassō: to guard, keep watch
φυλάσσω
The related verb makes the guarding inside the idea of prison explicit.
phylax: guard, guardian, sentinel
φύλαξ
The guard is the person who watches over the confined space and its occupants.
phylakē: watch, guard post, prison
φυλακή
One noun holds both the act of guarding and the place of confinement.
THE PATTERN
Rulers turn power into bodily violence by ordering or carrying out death.
And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.THE THREAD
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.Acts uses φυλακή (phylakē, prison) for Peter’s confinement and the related verb φυλάσσω (phylassō, guard) for the soldiers keeping him. The shared word-family reveals how guarding and confinement can place a body under another’s control.
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