What Does Matthew 16:5 Mean in the King James?
And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
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 Greek word for “forgotten” belongs to a family about what escapes notice, turning the missing bread toward a question of what has slipped out of sight.
THE MEANING
When something necessary is missing, it can fill your attention until the larger meaning of the moment slips from view. The bread is genuinely absent, yet it may not be all that has gone unnoticed.
THE ROOT
ἐπελάθοντο
epelathonto
GROWS FROM
λανθαν- / ληθ- (lanthan- / lēth-)
To escape notice, remain hidden, or slip from awareness.
“forgotten” in this verse is epelathonto. The verb belongs to a word family that connects forgetting with what has escaped notice. The bread is truly missing, while the wording also opens attention to what else can go unnoticed.
ALSO GROWS
lanthanō: Escape notice; remain hidden.
λανθάνω
This related verb makes forgetting sound like something slipping from awareness.
lēthē: Forgetfulness; oblivion.
λήθη
This noun shares the related stem and makes the link between forgetting and what is hidden explicit.
THE PATTERN
Fixation on physical provision can obscure the meaning carried by what is given.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.THE THREAD
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?Matthew uses the Greek verb for the disciples forgetting bread; Luke uses the same verb to say that no sparrow is forgotten before God. The shared word connects what slips from human awareness with what remains within God’s notice.
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