What Does Matthew 2:17 Mean in the King James?
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, 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
The Greek for “fulfilled” carries the image of being “filled full”: Jeremiah’s spoken lament reaches its full expression in grief, not in its erasure.
THE MEANING
The grief over children lost to violence is named in Scripture’s voice, so it does not disappear behind a claim of triumph. Here, “fulfilled” describes Jeremiah’s lament taking form; it does not make the violence good or undo the loss.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that fulfillment must mean a happy outcome is undone here: the word reaches fullness in grief, without making the loss acceptable or undone.
THE ROOT
ἐπληρώθη
eplērōthē
GROWS FROM
πληρόω
plēroō
To fill, make full, or bring to completion.
“Fulfilled” can sound like a prediction being checked off; the Greek also carries the sense of something being filled to its full measure. Here a spoken lament reaches its fullness in an event of loss, so fulfillment does not imply consolation or approval.
ALSO GROWS
plērēs: Full, complete.
πλήρης
This related word keeps the image of fullness beneath “fulfilled”: the lament is not an empty saying but one brought to its full expression.
plērōma: Fullness, that which fills.
πλήρωμα
This branch makes the shared image explicit: what is spoken comes to fullness in the reality the verse names.
THE PATTERN
Scripture’s spoken word reaches fullness in lived events, including events of grief.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.THE THREAD
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.The same verb, πληρόω (plēroō), means “to fill, bring to fullness,” and appears in both verses. Matthew 5:17 speaks of fulfillment as completion; Matthew 2:17 lets that completion name a lament taking shape, so “fulfilled” does not have to mean that pain is over.
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