What Does Matthew 3:4 Mean in the King James?
And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
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
John wears Elijah’s wilderness signature before he speaks, letting his clothing identify the prophetic pattern.
THE MEANING
The wilderness is visible in John before he speaks: camel hair, a leather belt, locusts, and wild honey make his life legible as a prophetic sign. The verse speaks now through that image: a messenger’s whole way of appearing can carry a message, while his food comes from what the wild provides.
THE ROOT
ζώνην
zōnēn
GROWS FROM
ζώννυμι
zōnnymi
To gird or fasten around with a belt.
“girdle” in this verse is zōnēn. The belt belongs to a word family built around girding the body. Here, the leather belt around John’s loins echoes Elijah’s identifying description in 2 Kings 1:8, so the clothing carries a prophetic identity.
ALSO GROWS
perizōnnymi: Gird around; put on a belt.
περιζώννυμι
The same girding action makes the belt a visible marker, not a stray clothing detail.
anazōnnymi: Gird up; prepare oneself.
ἀναζώννυμι
The word family can extend from fastening a belt to readiness, adding the sense of a body prepared for its work.
τροφή
trophē
GROWS FROM
τρέφω
trephō
To nourish, feed, or rear.
“meat” in this verse is trophē. The Greek word names food or nourishment; it does not specify flesh. Locusts and wild honey are presented as what sustains John, keeping the verse’s attention on wilderness provision.
ALSO GROWS
trephō: Feed, nourish, or bring up.
τρέφω
It reveals the sustaining action underneath the noun for food.
trophos: Nourisher; nurse.
τροφός
This related word shows the same family describing one who feeds and sustains.
THE PATTERN
A messenger’s life can carry the message as visibly as the messenger’s words.
And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.THE THREAD
And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.The leather belt around the loins repeats Elijah’s identifying description, and the Greek wording closely echoes the phrase in this verse. The repeated silhouette lets you recognize Elijah’s prophetic pattern in John before the later identification is stated outright.
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