What Does Matthew 24:51 Mean in the King James?
And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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 servant is cut in two and assigned a share among hypocrites: the verse makes punishment both a severing and a placing.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes the distance between a trusted role and an unfaithful life: the servant is cut apart and assigned his share with hypocrites. The weeping and gnashing of teeth give that outcome its sound, anguish made audible and visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A trusted role makes concealed unfaithfulness harmless.
THE ROOT
διχοτομήσει
dichotomēsei
GROWS FROM
τέμνω
temnō
to cut
“cut asunder” in this verse is dichotomēsei. The Greek verb διχοτομέω carries both cutting and division into two; the KJV’s “asunder” preserves the violence, while the Greek makes the severing explicit. The verse pairs that bodily division with assignment to a group: the punishment both severs and places.
ALSO GROWS
tomē: cut, incision
τομή
This noun keeps the root’s direct image of cutting visible beneath the verse’s stronger compound verb.
dichotomeō: cut in two
διχοτομέω
This is the verb behind “cut asunder,” making the division explicit.
ὑποκριταῖς
hypokritais
GROWS FROM
ὑποκρίνομαι
hypokrinomai
to act a part, feign, or pretend; also to answer
“hypocrites” in this verse is hypokritais. The word reaches beyond the label “hypocrite” to the act of performing a role. The servant’s assigned company exposes the gap between the faithful role entrusted to him and the life he lives.
ALSO GROWS
hypokritēs: actor, pretender, hypocrite
ὑποκριτής
This noun names the person performing the role that the root describes.
hypokrisis: acting, pretense, hypocrisy
ὑπόκρισις
This noun makes the performed quality of hypocrisy explicit.
μέρος
meros
GROWS FROM
μερίζω
merizō
to divide, distribute, or apportion
A portion is a share set out by dividing: the servant does not merely stand near the hypocrites but receives a place among them. The sentence’s cutting and allotment echo each other, the severing is followed by a definite share.
ALSO GROWS
merismos: division, apportionment
μερισμός
This noun names the act of dividing into shares that underlies an assigned portion.
meristēs: divider, distributor
μεριστής
This word names one who divides or distributes shares, bringing the root’s allotting sense into view.
THE PATTERN
The portion a person receives exposes what their life has aligned itself with.
If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.THE THREAD
The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.Luke uses the same Greek verb διχοτομέω (dichotomeō, “cut in two”) and noun μέρος (meros, “portion”), joining the severing and the assigned share in one image. Its final phrase names the company as unbelievers, bringing the servant’s inward failure into sharper view.
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