What Does Matthew 14:23 Mean in the King James?
And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.
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
Solitude begins with release: the crowd is let go before he is alone in prayer.
THE MEANING
The crowd is released, and he is alone in prayer. Solitude here is not mere absence of people; it is a space occupied by address to God. The verse lets aloneness and communion coexist in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being alone means being abandoned or cut off from relationship.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύσας
apolysas
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
to loosen, untie, or release
“sent the multitudes away” in this verse is apolysas. The verb translated “sent away” is apolyo, built on lyō, “loosen” or “release.” Its word family also includes lytron, “ransom,” the means of release; the scene places letting the crowd go just before his solitude.
ALSO GROWS
lysis: loosening, release
λύσις
This noun keeps the sense of release visible in the same word family as the verb for sending the crowd away.
lytron: ransom, the price paid for release
λύτρον
The family reaches from letting someone go to the ransom that secures release, adding depth to the verse’s quiet act of dismissal.
προσεύξασθαι
proseuxasthai
GROWS FROM
εὔχομαι
euchomai
to pray, vow, or express a wish
“to pray” in this verse is proseuxasthai. The verb for prayer belongs to a word family that also names a vow. Prayer in this scene is not simply silence after the crowd leaves; it is directed address.
ALSO GROWS
euchē: prayer or vow
εὐχή
The shared word family holds prayer and vow together, giving prayer the shade of personal address and commitment.
proseuchē: prayer
προσευχή
This related noun names the practice enacted by the verb in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Prayer is given set-apart time or space as ordinary activity recedes.
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.THE THREAD
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.Matthew and Mark use forms of the same Greek verb, proseuchomai, meaning “to pray.” Mark places prayer in a solitary place before daybreak; Matthew places it on a mountain after the crowd is released.
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