What Does Matthew 22:1 Mean in the King James?

And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,

Matthew 22:1 · KJV

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

A parable places an image beside you, letting the likeness reveal what a direct statement may leave unseen.

THE MEANING

Jesus answers you through an image placed beside your life; the comparison itself becomes a way of seeing. The word “again” keeps the exchange open, making the answer part of a continuing encounter.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Truth only comes through direct explanation. Here, the answer arrives through a parable that invites recognition through likeness.

THE ROOT

παραβολαῖς

parabolaîs

GROWS FROM

βαλ

The Greek stem bal- (⁨βαλ-⁩, “throw, cast, place”) appears in ⁨βάλλω⁩ and its compounds.

“parables” in this verse is parabolaîs. Greek ⁨παραβολή⁩ (parabolē, “parable, comparison”) comes through ⁨παραβάλλω⁩ (parabállō, “place beside”), from the stem ⁨βαλ-⁩. A parable places an image alongside your life, allowing the likeness to disclose what a bare statement may leave unseen.

ALSO GROWS

bállō: Throw, cast, put

βάλλω

This basic verb gives the stem its sense of placing or casting something; a parable casts an image alongside the hearer.

parabállō: Place beside, compare

παραβάλλω

This compound makes the parable’s structure visible: one thing is placed beside another so their likeness can be seen.

symbállō: Bring together, compare, consider

συμβάλλω

The same stem appears where things are brought together for comparison, echoing how a parable joins an image and the reader’s experience.

THE PATTERN

Truth is placed beside the hearer in an image, so recognition can reveal what direct explanation alone may not.

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

Psalm 78:2 · KJVThe speaker opens truth through a parable, pairing an image with what lies beneath it.

Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable unto the house of Israel;

Ezekiel 17:2 · KJVThe parable and riddle place a pattern before the hearer that must be recognized.

And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.

Mark 4:33 · KJVThe word reaches the hearers through parables, images set beside what they can perceive.

THE THREAD

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:

Matthew 13:34 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨παραβολή⁩ (parabolē, “parable, comparison”), from ⁨παραβάλλω⁩ (parabállō, “place beside”). Matthew 13:34 makes explicit what this verse announces: the image placed beside the hearer is a way Jesus speaks.

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