What Does Matthew 14:4 Mean in the King James?
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
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 verse separates possession from permission: having someone does not make the relationship lawful.
THE MEANING
The verse names a present boundary: being able to hold or claim someone does not make the relationship rightful. It exposes the gap between access and permission in the act of having a person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
That having someone, or being able to take them, is enough to make a relationship rightful.
THE ROOT
ἔχειν
echein
GROWS FROM
ἔχω
echō
To hold, have, or keep.
The infinitive translated “have” comes from ἔχω (echō), a verb of holding or keeping. Its branches can mean retaining, sharing in, or holding together, so the word reaches beyond bare access: the way a person is held matters, while the sentence names the boundary around that claim.
ALSO GROWS
katechō: Hold fast, retain, possess.
κατέχω
This branch makes the sense of holding explicit and sharpens the distinction between possessing someone and having a rightful relationship.
metechō: Share in, partake.
μετέχω
This branch carries the root into participation, suggesting that relationship involves sharing rather than one-sided possession.
synechō: Hold together, constrain, press upon.
συνέχω
This branch shows how holding can also bind or press upon another, bringing the weight of the claim in this verse into view.
THE PATTERN
A person’s ability to take or hold something does not make the claim rightful.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.THE THREAD
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.The same root, ἔχω (echō, “hold, have”), appears in “have” here and as ἐχέτω (echetō, “let ... have”) in the linked verse’s reciprocal pair. That pairing makes the boundary visible: possession alone cannot make a relationship rightful.
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