What Does Matthew 20:20 Mean in the King James?
Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
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
She bows and asks in the same approach: reverence does not erase the specific thing she wants.
THE MEANING
You can appear before Jesus with both reverence and a particular desire. The bowed posture does not cancel the request; both are present in one encounter. The answer remains open here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You must hide what you want in order to approach with reverence.
THE ROOT
αἰτοῦσα
aitousa from
GROWS FROM
αἰτε-
aite-
to ask or request
The participle rendered “desiring” comes from a verb for asking or requesting. The want here is more than an inward wish: it has taken the shape of a request brought to Jesus.
ALSO GROWS
aitēma: request, petition
αἴτημα
This noun from the same family gives the desire a concrete form: something asked for.
aitēsis: request, act of asking
αἴτησις
This branch keeps the emphasis on the act of bringing a want forward, as the woman does here.
προσκυνοῦσα
proskynousa from
GROWS FROM
προσκυν-
proskyn-
to bow down or prostrate oneself before someone
“worshipping” in this verse is proskynousa from. This verb carries the physical image of bowing before another. The verse holds that embodied gesture alongside a request, so reverence has a visible posture while desire is brought forward.
ALSO GROWS
proskynēsis: bowing, prostration
προσκύνησις
This noun names the posture contained in the action: the approach is bodily, not only inward.
proskynētēs: one who bows down, worshipper
προσκυνητής
This related noun describes a person by the same bowing action seen in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Bowing gives reverence a bodily form and may accompany a concrete plea.
And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.THE THREAD
But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.The verb behind “desiring” here belongs to the same ask-family Jesus uses when he says, “what ye ask.” The request is already present in this approach; the next exchange turns toward what that request contains.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us