What Does Matthew 17:14 Mean in the King James?
And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
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
Before the man’s request is heard, his body has already made his approach visible.
THE MEANING
You can approach in the middle of a crowd without being lost in it. Before your sentence is complete, your posture can already make the meeting visible; here, speech begins from the lowered body.
THE ROOT
γονυπετῶν
gonypetōn
GROWS FROM
γονυπετέω (gonypeteō), from γόνυ (góny) + πίπτω (píptō)
To fall upon the knees.
English can make “kneeling down” sound like a detail added to the approach. The Greek verb gathers “knee” and “fall”: the approach itself is a bodily descent, with the spoken appeal only beginning afterward.
ALSO GROWS
góny: knee
γόνυ
This is the bodily point named inside the verb: the man’s approach becomes visible at the knees.
píptō: fall
πίπτω
Its falling sense makes the posture a lowering, not merely standing before Jesus.
THE PATTERN
A bowed knee makes reverence or appeal visible before God.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.THE THREAD
And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.Mark uses the same participle, γονυπετῶν (gonypetōn, kneeling down), for a man approaching Jesus with a direct plea. There the words that follow the posture are heard; in Matthew, the appeal is just beginning.
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