What Does Matthew 24:28 Mean in the King James?
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
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 Greek word for “carcase” means a thing fallen, so the eagles gather around a visible fall, not an obscure sign.
THE MEANING
The verse places the body and the eagles in one frame: wherever the corpse lies, the eagles gather there. Death leaves a visible sign in what converges around it; the scene is exposed.
THE ROOT
πτῶμα
ptōma
GROWS FROM
πίπτω
piptō
to fall, to drop
The word translated “carcase” means a thing fallen, a fall, or a corpse. Its connection to πτῶσις (ptōsis), “a fall” or “downfall,” makes the image sharper: the eagles gather where something has already fallen.
ALSO GROWS
ptōsis: a fall, downfall
πτῶσις
The same root can name both the act of falling and the fallen state pictured by the corpse.
piptō: to fall, drop
πίπτω
This is the verb behind “carcase,” revealing the fall contained inside the word for the body.
συναχθήσονται
synachthēsontai
GROWS FROM
συνάγω
synagō
to bring together, gather
The English phrase “gathered together” translates one Greek verb: synagō, to gather or bring together. Its family includes συναγωγή (synagōgē), “assembly,” and ἐπισυνάγω (episynagō), “gather together,” so the verse pictures a convergence around the fallen body.
ALSO GROWS
synagōgē: assembly, gathering
συναγωγή
The same word family can name a gathered group, making the eagles’ convergence an assembly around the body.
episynagō: gather together, assemble
ἐπισυνάγω
Matthew uses this related form when describing a hen gathering her young under her wings in Matthew 23:37.
THE PATTERN
A body exposed in death becomes a visible point of convergence for birds and beasts.
Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.THE THREAD
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!Matthew uses a form of the same gather-word here for gathering the children under a hen’s wings. The shared root holds a striking contrast: gathering can shelter the living, while in Matthew 24:28 the eagles gather where the body has fallen.
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