What Does Matthew 26:4 Mean in the King James?
And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.
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 plot uses deceit to seize the one whose name, Yeshua, carries the meaning of deliverance.
THE MEANING
You can see the whole mechanism in one line: secret counsel chooses deceit to capture Jesus, and capture leads to killing. The concealment does not soften the intent; the stated end reveals it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the claim that deceit is only clever strategy: here its purpose is capture and killing.
THE ROOT
δόλῳ
dólō
GROWS FROM
δόλος (dólos; stem δολ-)
Deceit or guile used to mislead.
The English “subtilty” can sound like skill or finesse; δόλος carries the sense of deceit. Here, concealment is the means by which the plot seeks to seize Jesus, making it part of the violence rather than a detail beside it.
ALSO GROWS
dólios: Deceitful, guileful.
δόλιος
It describes the character of a person or action shaped by the same guile named in the plot.
dolioō: To deceive or deal treacherously.
δολιόω
This verb shows the root in action: misleading is something done to another, not merely a subtle quality.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yēšūaʿ
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-sh-ʿ
To deliver, to bring out from constriction.
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yeshua, from yasha: to deliver, to bring out from constriction. The verse holds a sharp tension: the plot aims to close around him, while his name carries deliverance as its nature.
ALSO GROWS
yāšaʿ: To deliver or bring out.
יָשַׁע
It is the verbal root behind Yeshua and gives the name its movement from narrowness toward spaciousness.
yəšūʿāh: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun makes the root’s action visible as the deliverance carried in the name.
THE PATTERN
Hidden counsel and deceptive speech can serve as instruments for violence.
And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.THE THREAD
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.Matthew names the attempt to seize and kill; John places that attempt beside Jesus’ own stated agency in laying down and taking up his life. The violence remains real, while the plot alone does not define what his death means.
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