What Does Matthew 22:25 Mean in the King James?

Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother:

Matthew 22:25 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Greek word translated “issue” means seed, so the verse pictures childlessness as a future that has not been sown.

THE MEANING

The first brother is dead without offspring, and his wife is left to his brother. The verse holds the absence of seed and the transfer of the marriage together, making family continuity the question beneath the scene.

THE ROOT

σπέρμα

sperma

GROWS FROM

σπείρω

speirō

to sow or scatter seed

The word translated “issue” is seed: the same image can name offspring and what is planted. The verse describes the first brother’s childlessness as an absence of seed, so family continuation appears as something that could take root and grow.

ALSO GROWS

speirō: to sow

σπείρω

The verb shows the action beneath the seed image: something is planted to produce what follows.

sporos: seed, that which is sown

σπόρος

This related noun keeps the link between offspring and planted seed visible.

THE PATTERN

Seed names the source through which life and a future emerge and continue.

And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.

Genesis 38:9 · KJVThe seed is explicitly tied to whether the brother’s line receives a future.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Galatians 6:7 · KJVSowing and reaping make the seed image a way to see how what is planted bears a later result.

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Peter 1:23 · KJVBirth is described through seed, showing the image as the source from which life emerges.

THE THREAD

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

Matthew 13:24 · KJV

Matthew uses the same word for the field’s seed that this verse uses for offspring. The shared image links a child’s continuation with what is planted and able to grow.

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