What Does Matthew 26:66 Mean in the King James?
What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.
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 verdict turns accusation into a sentence: they declare him held liable to death.
THE MEANING
This verse puts the force of collective judgment before you: they do not merely accuse him; they pronounce him liable to die. The word translated “guilty” pictures someone held under a claim, and here that claim is death. The sentence shows how a group can make death sound settled by speaking together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A verdict spoken in one voice is not proof of its own justice; the verse exposes how collective certainty can attach a death sentence to a person.
THE ROOT
ἔνοχος
enochos
GROWS FROM
ἐν + ἔχω (en + echō)
ἔχω means to have or hold; ἔνοχος means held liable, bound under a claim.
“Guilty” can sound like a label, but ἔνοχος pictures a person held answerable under a claim. In this sentence, the claim is death: their answer makes the accusation a sentence.
ALSO GROWS
echō: To have or hold.
ἔχω
This is the basic verb behind the image of being held liable.
katechō: To hold fast, keep possession, or restrain.
κατέχω
Its sense of holding shows liability as a binding relation, not just a label.
synechō: To hold together, press, or constrain.
συνέχω
This branch echoes the pressure carried by a claim that binds someone to a consequence.
THE PATTERN
Scripture shows that a spoken verdict can bind someone to a consequence, while the truth of the matter remains decisive.
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.THE THREAD
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.Matthew’s “guilty” and James’s “guilty” translate the same Greek word, ἔνοχος: held liable under a claim. Here the claim is death; James uses the word for liability arising from a breach, revealing how the word binds a person to a consequence.
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