What Does Matthew 24:43 Mean in the King James?
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
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 verse turns an unknown hour into a breach: a guarded watch goes unguarded, and the house is literally dug through.
THE MEANING
You are placed inside the householder’s exposed interval: he cannot identify the hour the thief comes, and the house can be dug through while he sleeps. Security appears fragile when it depends on knowing the precise time of danger.
THE ROOT
γρηγορέω
grēgoreō
GROWS FROM
ἐγείρω
egeirō
to wake, rouse, or raise
“watched” in this verse is grēgoreō. The householder’s imagined response is more than looking out: the verb means to stay awake, to remain alert. English repeats “watch,” but this word points to a wakeful state that the unknown hour makes difficult to time.
ALSO GROWS
grēgoreō: stay awake; be alert
γρηγορέω
This is the householder’s imagined response if he knew when the thief would come.
egeirō: wake; rouse; raise
ἐγείρω
The underlying wakefulness gives the vigilance in this verse its bodily sense: being awake rather than asleep.
φυλακή
phylakē
GROWS FROM
φυλάσσω
phylassō
to guard, keep, or protect
The “watch” the householder wishes to know is named with a word tied to guarding. The time is pictured as a guard’s shift, while the second “watched” describes staying awake; English makes these two parts of the image sound alike.
ALSO GROWS
phylassō: guard; keep; protect
φυλάσσω
It names the guarding implied by the watch interval.
phylakē: guard; watch; prison
φυλακή
The same word can name a watch or a place of confinement, giving the interval a sense of custody and guardedness.
διορύσσω
dioryssō
GROWS FROM
ὀρύσσω
oryssō
to dig
The image beneath “broken up” is a thief digging through the house. The danger is a breach through the boundary, not merely a mess left inside.
ALSO GROWS
oryssō: dig
ὀρύσσω
This is the concrete action at the base of the house’s breach.
dioryssō: dig through; break in by digging
διορύσσω
This compound describes the thief’s way into the house.
THE PATTERN
Where the hour of danger is unknown, what is left unwatched can be breached.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.THE THREAD
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.Matthew 25:13 uses the same Greek verb for staying awake that appears in Matthew 24:43. In both verses, the unknown hour and wakefulness belong to the same image.
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