What Does Matthew 14:25 Mean in the King James?
And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
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 sea that cannot carry human feet becomes the path by which Jesus reaches them.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you in the hour when night is deep and the way forward looks like open water. Jesus’ movement toward those in need does not wait for the sea to become solid ground; he walks across it. What seems to prevent his arrival becomes the path of his approach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that what you cannot cross can also keep Jesus from reaching you.
THE ROOT
περιπατῶν
peripatōn
GROWS FROM
πατέω
pateō
To tread, step, or walk.
The verse uses a walking verb built on πατέω (pateō), “to tread or step,” so the English can hide the concrete image of feet crossing water. The same stem appears in καταπατέω (katapateō), “to trample underfoot”; here the emphasis remains on actual steps across a surface that should not bear them.
ALSO GROWS
peripateō: To walk about; to walk.
περιπατέω
This is the verb behind the verse’s “walking,” keeping the image grounded in steps placed on the sea.
katapateō: To trample underfoot.
καταπατέω
It shares the tread-and-step root, reinforcing the physical force of feet crossing a surface.
THE PATTERN
God’s passage opens a way through waters that erase ordinary footing.
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.THE THREAD
Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.The Septuagint uses περιπατέω, the same Greek verb family behind Matthew’s “walking,” for Job’s description of God treading the sea. The KJV’s different English verbs conceal the echo: Jesus’ steps across the water recall the passage Job attributes to God alone.
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