What Does Matthew 27:61 Mean in the King James?

And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

Matthew 27:61 · KJV

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 Greek word for tomb also carries the sense of a memorial, so the two Marys sit facing a place named for remembrance.

THE MEANING

Two women remain seated, facing what appears to be an ending. Their presence holds remembrance beside the tomb in the stillness of this moment.

THE ROOT

μνημεῖον

mnēmeion

GROWS FROM

μνημ-

mnēm-

memory, remembrance

“sepulchre” in this verse is mnēmeion. ⁨Μνημεῖον⁩ (mnēmeion) means tomb or memorial and belongs to the word-family of memory. Burial and remembrance meet in one word: the tomb is also a place that keeps a life in memory.

ALSO GROWS

mnēmē: memory, remembrance

μνήμη

This related word makes the memorial sense within “sepulchre” visible: the women face a place bound to remembering.

mnēmoneuō: to remember, call to mind

μνημονεύω

The same word-family names the act of remembering, joining the tomb as a memorial to the living act of keeping someone in mind.

THE PATTERN

Remembrance keeps a relationship present in the face of what appears to be an ending.

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;

Genesis 8:1 · KJVRemembering Noah accompanies a change in the waters, keeping the life inside the ark within the unfolding scene.

I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

Psalm 77:11 · KJVThe speaker turns to remembrance as a way of holding the LORD’s works present.

But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

John 20:11 · KJVMary remains beside the tomb, where grief and remembrance continue in the same place.

THE THREAD

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

John 20:1 · KJV

John uses the same Greek word, ⁨μνημεῖον⁩ (mnēmeion), for “sepulchre.” Here Mary Magdalene returns to that place of remembrance before daybreak and finds the stone taken away.

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