What Does Matthew 22:39 Mean in the King James?

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Matthew 22:39 · 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

The word translated “neighbour” means “the one near,” placing love in the relationship before you, not in an abstract idea.

THE MEANING

The person near you matters by the same measure you already know from within: care for yourself. The verse holds both people in view, joining love for another with love for yourself.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that loving another requires treating yourself as disposable: the measure named here is love of your neighbour as yourself.

THE ROOT

πλησίον

plēsion

GROWS FROM

πέλας

pelas

Near, close at hand.

The Greek names a neighbour through nearness: the person who is near. English can make “neighbour” sound like a fixed category, while the word itself keeps the relationship immediate and alive.

ALSO GROWS

pelas: Near, nearby.

πέλας

This base word makes nearness the seed of the word for neighbour.

plēsiazō: To draw near, approach.

πλησιάζω

This related word turns nearness into movement, echoing how a neighbour is someone encountered in relationship.

THE PATTERN

Love takes shape in how the person near you is treated, measured against the care you know for yourself.

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18 · KJVThe command stands beside refusing vengeance and grudges, showing love where resentment could take hold.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 13:10 · KJVLove becomes visible in the absence of harm to the person near you.

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

James 2:8 · KJVThe same measure returns as a concrete expression of scripture’s demand.

THE THREAD

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:18 · KJV

Leviticus places this same command beside refusing vengeance and bearing a grudge. That makes love concrete in the relationship: resentment does not get to define the person near you.

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