What Does Matthew 14:16 Mean in the King James?
But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
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 hungry do not need to be sent away; the people already present are told to give them food.
THE MEANING
The hunger in front of you does not require the people to leave. Jesus turns to those already there and makes giving their action: you give them food. Need and response remain in the same place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that hunger must be removed from view before it can be answered.
THE ROOT
δότε
dóte
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
Give, grant, impart, put into another’s possession.
δότε (dóte, “give”) is a direct command to the plural “you.” The emphatic ὑμεῖς (hymeis, “you yourselves”) places the action with the people Jesus addresses: the crowd’s hunger becomes a call to give within their presence.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: giving, gift
δόσις
The noun form keeps the focus on giving as an act, not merely on what the recipient lacks.
metadidōmi: share, impart
μεταδίδωμι
This compound shows giving as sharing what passes from one person to another.
ἀπελθεῖν
apelthein
GROWS FROM
ἀπέρχομαι (aperchomai; ἀπό [apo, away] + ἔρχομαι [erchomai, come/go])
Go away, depart; ἀπό marks movement away from a place or people.
“depart” in this verse is apelthein. The word for departing builds movement away into its form. Jesus blocks that direction and turns the moment toward giving, keeping those who need food present.
ALSO GROWS
erchomai: come, go
ἔρχομαι
This is the movement verb within ἀπέρχομαι; the prefix makes the direction specifically away.
parerchomai: pass by, pass away
παρέρχομαι
The same movement verb takes a different prefix to describe passing by, showing how the direction of movement shapes the action.
THE PATTERN
Need is met by provision passing to those who remain present.
And his servitor said, What, should I set this before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they may eat: for thus saith the LORD, They shall eat, and shall leave thereof.Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.THE THREAD
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.The command δότε (dóte, “give”) here and διδότω (didotō, “let him give”) in 2 Corinthians share the root δίδωμι (didōmi, “give”). That verse names the inward freedom of giving; here, the action meets an immediate need.
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