What Does Matthew 26:38 Mean in the King James?
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
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
Here “soul” means the whole living self: grief reaches all the way to life itself.
THE MEANING
Your living self can be filled with grief so severe that death feels near; the verse names that sorrow without disguise. Beside it is a request for someone to remain and stay awake with you. Sorrow and companionship occupy the same moment.
THE ROOT
ψυχή
psychē
GROWS FROM
ψυχ-
psych-
Living soul; life, the whole living self.
This word can mean both “soul” and “life,” so it does not point only to an abstract inner part. Here the sorrow belongs to the whole living self and reaches as far as death.
ALSO GROWS
psychē: Soul, life, or self.
ψυχή
The same word is rendered “life” in Matthew 10:39, showing how fully “my soul” can mean the living self.
oligopsychos: Fainthearted; discouraged.
ὀλιγόψυχος
This related word names a person in a distressed state, keeping the living self in view rather than separating sorrow from the person.
μείνατε
meinate
GROWS FROM
μεν- (men-), from μένω (menō)
Remain, stay, continue.
“Tarry” is a form of μένω, the verb for remaining or abiding. The request is for presence: stay here with me while I suffer.
ALSO GROWS
menō: Remain, stay, abide.
μένω
Μείνατε is a form of this verb: the request is to remain there with him.
monē: Dwelling; a place of abiding.
μονή
This related noun makes remaining into a place of presence, deepening the relational weight of “tarry ye here.”
THE PATTERN
Grief is named plainly, while presence stays close to the one who bears it.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.Jesus wept.Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.THE THREAD
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.The Greek ψυχή (psychē, “living soul” or “life”) appears in both verses. That connection opens “my soul” here as the whole living self, whose life is under the weight of grief.
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