What Does Matthew 26:46 Mean in the King James?
Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray 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
Betrayal is a handing-over, yet the one being handed over rises and moves toward it with eyes open.
THE MEANING
The danger has drawn near, and Jesus sees it clearly. He names the betrayal, then rises and goes forward; the presence of danger does not erase the possibility of movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that when betrayal draws near, you must be unaware or powerless: Jesus recognizes what is happening and still moves.
THE ROOT
παραδίδωμι
paradidōmi
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or hand over.
The word translated “betray” carries the concrete sense of handing someone over or delivering them up. Its root also appears in words for giving and for what is handed down, revealing betrayal here as a transfer of a person into another’s power.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give or grant.
δίδωμι
This is the seed within “hand over”: betrayal is expressed as an act of giving someone over.
paradidōmi: To hand over, deliver up, or betray.
παραδίδωμι
This is the verb used for the betrayer in this verse; the hidden action inside “betray” is a handover.
paradosis: Tradition; something handed down.
παράδοσις
The same give-and-hand-over family can describe something transmitted, making the verse’s transfer of a person part of a wider linguistic pattern of handing something on.
ἐγείρεσθε
egeiresthe
GROWS FROM
ἐγείρω
egeirō
To rouse, awaken, or raise up.
“Rise” in this verse is egeiresthe. The command is a form of the verb for getting up, but this same word family also speaks of being raised from the dead. The immediate movement in the verse belongs to a larger language of rising.
ALSO GROWS
egeirō: To rouse, awaken, or raise up.
ἐγείρω
This is the verb behind Jesus’ command to rise and leave the waiting place.
egersis: A raising; resurrection.
ἔγερσις
Matthew 27:53 uses this related noun for resurrection, showing that this word family can name rising in its fullest sense.
ἤγγικεν
ēngiken
GROWS FROM
ἐγγίζω
engizō
To draw near or approach.
“at hand” in this verse is ēngiken. The Greek form says the betrayer has drawn near, with that approach now present. The line places Jesus’ command to rise beside an arrival already in motion.
ALSO GROWS
engizō: To draw near or approach.
ἐγγίζω
This is the verb translated “is at hand,” naming the betrayer’s approach.
engys: Near or close.
ἐγγύς
This related word expresses nearness as a state; the verse’s verb makes that nearness the result of someone drawing close.
THE PATTERN
A threshold already seen is met by rising and moving forward.
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?THE THREAD
And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.The same Greek verb behind “betray” here appears again as “delivered” when Jesus is handed over to Pilate. That shared root brings the word’s action into focus: betrayal hands a person over.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us