What Does Matthew 27:3 Mean in the King James?
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
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 verse names Judas’s response as regret, then shows him return the silver; neither action reverses Jesus’s condemnation.
THE MEANING
When the cost of a deed becomes visible now, regret can arise alongside an effort to return what was gained. Returning it may be a real act, yet it does not by itself undo the harm or its consequences.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that remorse and restitution automatically make harm disappear is unsettled here: the silver is returned, and Jesus remains condemned.
THE ROOT
μεταμεληθείς
metamelētheis
GROWS FROM
μεταμέλομαι
metamelomai
To regret, feel remorse, or rue an action.
“repented himself” in this verse is metamelētheis. The Greek word here names regret; it is a different word from μετάνοια (metanoia), meaning turning. That distinction lets the verse hold Judas’s remorse beside his return of the silver without saying either reverses what has happened.
ALSO GROWS
metamelomai: To regret or feel remorse.
μεταμέλομαι
This is the verb family behind “repented himself,” naming the feeling that follows when the consequence becomes visible.
ametamelētos: Not regretted; irrevocable.
ἀμεταμέλητος
The same word family can describe what cannot be taken back, echoing the verse’s tension between returned silver and a consequence that remains.
παραδιδοὺς
paradidous
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give or grant.
“betrayed him” in this verse is paradidous. The Greek word rendered “betrayed” names the act of handing someone over, built on the word for giving. The context supplies the terrible cost of that transfer.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give or grant.
δίδωμι
This is the base verb within “hand over,” revealing the action beneath the English word “betrayed.”
paradosis: A handing down; tradition.
παράδοσις
This related word names what is handed down, showing how the same family of words carries the idea of transfer.
THE PATTERN
When harm becomes undeniable, sorrow can name its cost and lead to action, while the consequences remain real.
And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.THE THREAD
For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.The same Greek verb family appears here in “I do not repent, though I did repent,” where the context makes regret the plain sense. That shared word sharpens Matthew: “repented himself” names remorse, while bringing the silver back is a separate act.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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