What Does Matthew 22:17 Mean in the King James?
Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
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 question asks whether to “give,” but Jesus later answers with the same root plus apo-, “give back,” shifting the test toward what is due.
THE MEANING
A question that sounds like a neutral request for a rule can already narrow the frame to a yes-or-no choice. Here the Greek verb is simply “to give”; Jesus’ later reply turns the same giving-root toward rendering what is due. Beneath the question of permission sits another question: who gets to define the claim?
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A clean yes-or-no question is not necessarily neutral; its wording can place the answerer inside someone else’s frame.
THE ROOT
δοῦναι
doûnai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or bestow. The form here is “to give,” without a prefix meaning “back.”
The question uses the plain giving-verb. In Matthew 22:21, Jesus answers with ἀποδίδωμι (apodídōmi), “render” or “pay back,” adding a sense of returning what is due. The shift keeps the same root while changing the question from whether one may give to what is owed.
ALSO GROWS
apodídōmi: Give back, repay, render
ἀποδίδωμι
Jesus uses this compound in Matthew 22:21; the added apo- gives the shared giving-root the sense of rendering what is due.
paradídōmi: Hand over, deliver
παραδίδωμι
The same giving-root can describe a transfer into another’s hands, showing how a prefix shapes the kind of giving.
metadídōmi: Share, impart
μεταδίδωμι
The same root also describes sharing something with another; English words for giving, handing over, and sharing can hide their common seed.
THE PATTERN
A claim about what is due reveals the authority a voice assumes over what belongs.
A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.THE THREAD
They say unto him, Cæsar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.Matthew 22:17 uses δοῦναι (doûnai), from δίδωμι (didōmi, “give”); in this answer Jesus uses ἀπόδοτε (apódote), from ἀποδίδωμι (apodídōmi, “render” or “pay back”). The added apo- turns the exchange toward what is due, bringing the claim behind the trap into view.
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