What Does Matthew 24:31 Mean in the King James?
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
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 gathering word belongs to the same Greek family as “synagogue,” so the verse pictures the farthest scattered ones becoming an assembly.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a promise of a summons that reaches every direction: the trumpet sounds, the messengers go out, and the chosen are gathered from the farthest reaches of heaven. No edge lies beyond the reach of this gathering.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that distance or dispersion can make someone unreachable or forgotten.
THE ROOT
ἀποστελεῖ
apostelei
GROWS FROM
στέλλω
stellō
send, dispatch; with ἀπό (apo), send out or away
The verb ἀποστέλλω (apostellō, “send out”) belongs to the same word family as ἀπόστολος (apostolos, “one sent”). The action is a dispatch that reaches outward, carrying the summons toward the farthest edges.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: A person sent out with a commission
ἀπόστολος
It shares the sending word family, showing how dispatch gives a messenger their role.
apostolē: The act or charge of sending
ἀποστολή
It keeps the emphasis on a sending that carries a purpose outward.
ἐπισυνάξουσιν
episynaxousin
GROWS FROM
συνάγω
synagō
gather, bring together
The verb ἐπισυνάγω (episynagō, “gather together”) shares its gathering family with συναγωγή (synagōgē, “assembly”). The verse describes the chosen not only as found across the distances, but as gathered into a people together.
ALSO GROWS
synagōgē: A gathering of people; an assembly
συναγωγή
The shared stem makes the gathering here resonate with the formation of an assembly.
episynagōgē: The act or result of gathering together
ἐπισυναγωγή
This related noun keeps the focus on people brought together from dispersion.
THE PATTERN
A summons reaches across the full extent of scattering and gathers the farthest ones together.
If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.THE THREAD
And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.Both verses use the same Greek gathering family: ἐπισυνάγω (episynagō, “gather together”) in Matthew and συνάγω (synagō, “gather”) in John. Matthew stretches the gathering across the four winds and heaven’s edges; John names its shape as “in one,” with the scattered brought together.
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