What Does Matthew 27:47 Mean in the King James?
Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.
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 crowd hears Jesus’ cry, but its interpretation shows that hearing a voice and recognizing its meaning are not the same act.
THE MEANING
You can hear a sound and still mistake its meaning: the bystanders hear Jesus’ cry, then interpret it as a call for Elijah. Their words expose the gap between receiving a voice and recognizing what it says.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing Jesus’ words means understanding his cry: the speakers hear him, yet report a call for Elijah.
THE ROOT
φωνεῖ
phōnei
GROWS FROM
φων
Voice, sound; to give voice or call aloud.
English gives “calleth” and “voice” different shapes, but Greek keeps them in the same φων family: the call is voice made audible. The verse’s tension lies in what the hearers make of that voice.
ALSO GROWS
phōnē: voice, sound
φωνή
The same family names the voice itself, linking the call Jesus makes to the sound the bystanders hear.
phōneō: to call or speak aloud
φωνέω
This is the verb family behind “calleth”; the word carries the sense of giving voice, not merely making an inward appeal.
ἔλεγον
elegon
GROWS FROM
λεγ
To say or tell; to put something into words.
“said” in this verse is elegon. The verse distinguishes the cry they hear from the account they give of it. The speakers turn a sound into a claim about what Jesus is calling for.
ALSO GROWS
legō: to say, tell
λέγω
This is the verb behind “said,” marking the bystanders’ words as their report of what they think they heard.
logos: word, account
λόγος
This related form shows how a spoken account gives shape to what has been heard; here, their account names the cry as a call for Elijah.
THE PATTERN
A sound can reach several hearers while each interprets it through a different expectation.
And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down.The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.THE THREAD
Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.John uses the same φων family for the voice that comes from heaven, and the next verse shows hearers naming it thunder or an angel. The shared root connects both scenes at the point where a voice is heard but its meaning is disputed.
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