What Does Matthew 25:35 Mean in the King James?
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
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 verb translated “took me in” means “gathered me,” so welcoming the stranger is the act of gathering an outsider into the community.
THE MEANING
The hungry, thirsty, and stranger before you are places where the King is met now. Recognition takes bodily form here: food, drink, and welcome.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that honoring the King can be separated from the vulnerable people who need food, drink, and welcome.
THE ROOT
συνάγω
synagō
GROWS FROM
ἄγω (agō), in σύν + ἄγω
Ἄγω means to lead or bring; σύν means together. Together, συνάγω means to gather or bring together.
The word translated “took me in” carries the sense of gathering someone in. Its word family also gives Greek its word for an assembly, so the stranger’s welcome becomes an act of belonging.
ALSO GROWS
synagōgē: gathering, assembly; synagogue
συναγωγή
The related word for an assembly shows how gathering someone in turns a stranger into part of the gathered community.
eisagō: bring or lead in
εἰσάγω
This compound uses the same verb for bringing someone across a threshold, echoing the welcome expressed in the verse.
ξένος
xenos
GROWS FROM
ξεν-
xen-
A stranger, foreigner, or guest.
The same word family holds both the stranger and the guest. English can make “stranger” sound fixed outside; Greek also leaves open the relation created when that person is received.
ALSO GROWS
xenia: hospitality or guest-friendship
ξενία
This related word names the welcome that turns the stranger into a guest.
philoxenos: hospitable, welcoming strangers
φιλόξενος
Its parts express affection for the stranger, revealing welcome as a relationship rather than a transaction.
THE PATTERN
Recognition of God takes visible form in food, shelter, and welcome for people in need.
He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?THE THREAD
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.“Strangers” in both verses belongs to the Greek word family ξεν- (xen-), which includes the stranger and the guest. Matthew shows the King received as a stranger; Hebrews reveals that welcoming strangers can open onto an encounter the host does not expect.
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