What Does Matthew 22:12 Mean in the King James?
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
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 guest is not merely quiet: when his missing garment is exposed, Matthew describes his mouth as muzzled.
THE MEANING
You stand within the feast, yet the missing garment is still visible to the host. When he names it, the guest has no answer; the Greek word pictures his mouth as muzzled, making silence the exposed end of the encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that entry alone proves readiness is undone: the guest is inside, yet the host still exposes what is missing.
THE ROOT
ἐφιμώθη
ephimōthē
GROWS FROM
φιμόω
phimoō
To muzzle or restrain the mouth.
“speechless” in this verse is ephimōthē. The verb pictures the guest’s mouth as muzzled, not simply unused. Beside the missing garment, it makes the moment bodily: the lack is exposed, and his mouth is stopped.
ALSO GROWS
phimoō: To muzzle; to silence.
φιμόω
This is the verb behind the guest’s silence and makes the force of the image plain.
phimōtron: A muzzle; an instrument for restraining an animal’s mouth.
φίμωτρον
This related noun makes the physical image behind the verb visible.
ἔνδυμα
endyma
GROWS FROM
ἐνδύω
endyō
To put on or clothe.
The garment is named from the act of putting something on. The question concerns what the guest wears into the feast, a visible sign of how he stands within it.
ALSO GROWS
endyō: To put on; to clothe.
ἐνδύω
The verb shows the garment as something taken on and worn, not merely an object present in the scene.
endysis: Putting on; clothing.
ἔνδυσις
This related noun names the act of being clothed and echoes the question of what the guest has put on.
THE PATTERN
When a person’s condition is fully exposed, speech gives way to silence.
Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.THE THREAD
For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?The word translated “speechless” comes from φιμόω, the same verb Paul quotes here as “muzzle.” That shared root gives the guest’s silence a physical edge: his mouth is stopped at the moment the garment’s absence is named.
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