What Does Matthew 28:14 Mean in the King James?
And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.
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 lie is built as a transaction: persuade the authority, then promise the witnesses relief from worry.
THE MEANING
A false account arrives with two assurances: the governor will be persuaded, and the guards will be left untroubled. The story offers protection at both ends, managing what the authority hears and calming those asked to repeat it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a convincing lie stands on words alone: it can also depend on a promised shield for those who carry it.
THE ROOT
πείσομεν
peisomen
GROWS FROM
πείθω (peithō), stem πειθ-
To persuade, win over, or induce confidence.
The verb translated “persuade” belongs to a word family that also expresses trust and confidence: πέποιθα (pépoitha) means “I trust” or “I am confident.” Here, the speakers promise to move the governor toward belief in their account.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: Persuade, win over.
πείθω
This is the verb used for what the speakers promise to do to the governor.
pépoitha: Trust, be confident.
πέποιθα
It shows the confidence that persuasion can produce: the account is meant to become something the governor accepts as true.
peithomai: Be persuaded; in some contexts, obey.
πείθομαι
It shows the other side of persuasion: the person being addressed yields to what is said.
ἀμερίμνους ποιήσομεν
amerimnous poiēsomen
GROWS FROM
μέριμνα (merimna), stem μεριμν-; ἀ- means “without”
Care, concern, or anxiety; the prefixed form describes its absence.
The phrase translated “secure you” also carries the sense of making the guards free from care. The promise reaches beyond influencing the governor: it offers to quiet the worries of those asked to repeat the account.
ALSO GROWS
merimna: Care, concern, anxiety.
μέριμνα
This is what the promise removes from the guards.
merimnaō: Be anxious, worry, or care for.
μεριμνάω
It gives the family of words a lived dimension: the offer addresses the guards’ concern about what may happen to them.
amerimnos: Free from care, untroubled.
ἀμέριμνος
This is the word used for the state the speakers promise to give the guards.
THE PATTERN
Deceptive speech seeks to control what authority hears while assuring its speakers that they can prevail.
If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.THE THREAD
If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.Matthew shows a lie being carried toward a governor’s hearing, with protection promised to its messengers. Proverbs names the wider structure: when authority accepts lies, the corruption reaches those who serve it.
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