What Does Matthew 26:5 Mean in the King James?
But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.
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
Their delay reveals that the crowd’s reaction, not the violence they plan, is what governs their timing.
THE MEANING
The verse exposes power measuring each action by the crowd’s likely response. With the people gathered, a public act risks becoming open commotion, so timing becomes part of control. The calm they seek can conceal a plan that remains in motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that postponing violence means choosing peace: their stated concern is the crowd’s reaction, not the killing they intend.
THE ROOT
θόρυβος
thórybos
GROWS FROM
θορυβ-
Greek word family
Noisy commotion; tumult.
The Greek word names audible public tumult, not just a private worry. Its related verb describes a crowd being stirred into an uproar, showing why the speakers fear the people’s reaction as a force that could disrupt their plan.
ALSO GROWS
thorubeō: To stir up a tumult; make an uproar.
θορυβέω
This related verb describes a city being stirred into uproar in Acts 17:5, where crowd noise becomes a political force.
thoruboumenon: Making a noise; in tumult.
θορυβούμενον
The same word family describes the noise of mourners gathered in a house in Matthew 9:23, making the commotion here concrete and public.
THE PATTERN
When power depends on controlling outcomes, the crowd’s response becomes a force to fear, obey, or manipulate.
And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.THE THREAD
But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.The verb rendered “set all the city on an uproar” belongs to the same Greek word family as θόρυβος. Here the crowd is deliberately stirred, showing how public tumult can become a political force, the force the speakers fear in Matthew 26:5.
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