What Does Matthew 18:26 Mean in the King James?
The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
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
He asks for time to repay a debt the story has already shown he cannot pay.
THE MEANING
A debt can feel so total that more time seems like the only possible rescue. The servant asks for patience, then promises complete repayment; need and self-settlement occupy the same plea. The verse holds the gap between asking another to bear the debt and believing you can still clear it alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this dissolves is that an impossible debt can be made payable simply by being given more time.
THE ROOT
ἀποδώσω
apodōsō
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give or grant; ἀποδώσω is a form of ἀποδίδωμι, to give back or repay.
The promise to pay is literally framed as giving back. The same verb appears in Luke 7:42, where the debtors have nothing to give back, exposing the limit of the servant’s promise.
ALSO GROWS
apodidōmi: Give back, repay, or render what is due
ἀποδίδωμι
This is the verb behind the servant’s promise to repay everything.
metadidōmi: Share or impart
μεταδίδωμι
The same giving-root can describe sharing; here it is pressed into the harder promise of settling a debt.
μακροθύμησον
makrothymēson
GROWS FROM
μακροθυμέω (makrothumeō), from μακρός (makros) and θυμός (thymos)
To be slow to anger: to let the heat rise slowly.
“patience” in this verse is makrothymēson. The servant is asking the creditor to hold back his anger over time. The request for slowness to heat sits beside a vow of complete repayment, even though the debt is beyond his means.
ALSO GROWS
makrothymia: Patience, forbearance, slowness to anger
μακροθυμία
This noun names the restraint the servant asks the creditor to show him.
thymos: Anger, heat, or passionate impulse
θυμός
The heat within the compound makes “patience” more vivid: he asks for the creditor’s anger to be slow to flare.
THE PATTERN
When a debt cannot be repaid, release breaks the claim that more time alone can settle it.
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD’s release.And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.THE THREAD
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?Luke uses the same Greek verb for “pay” as the servant’s promise here. There, the debtors have nothing to give back, turning this promise into a sharper question: what happens when repayment is impossible?
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