What Does Matthew 3:9 Mean in the King James?
And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
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
God can raise Abraham’s children even from stone, so ancestry cannot fence in the future of a people.
THE MEANING
A family line does not place a boundary around whom God can raise into Abraham’s children. The stones make the claim vivid: what seems unable to bear life can become the place from which a people arise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having Abraham as a father guarantees belonging, and God’s work must stay within the lineage I already recognize.
THE ROOT
ἐγεῖραι
egeirai
GROWS FROM
ἐγερ-
The Greek verbal stem eger-, meaning to rouse, awaken, or raise.
“raise up” in this verse is egeirai. The same Greek verb carries the senses of waking, rousing, and raising, gathering awakening and resurrection in one action. Here children are life raised where stone offers no natural source.
ALSO GROWS
egeirō: to wake, rouse, or raise
ἐγείρω
This is the verb behind ἐγεῖραι in the verse; it gives “raise children” the force of bringing them to life.
egersis: a rising or resurrection
ἔγερσις
This related noun uses the same consonantal stem and shows the root reaching from awakening to rising from death.
τέκνα
tekna
GROWS FROM
τεκ-
The Greek stem tek-, associated with bearing or bringing forth.
τέκνα (tekna, children) belongs to the same consonantal family as τίκτω (tiktō, to bear). The verse’s sharp turn is that Abraham’s children are not a fixed possession of a bloodline; they can be brought forth where lineage seems impossible.
ALSO GROWS
teknon: a child or offspring
τέκνον
This is the singular form of the word used for “children,” keeping the focus on offspring and kinship.
tiktō: to bear or bring forth
τίκτω
Its shared τεκ consonants connect children with the act of bringing forth, illuminating how the verse imagines a new source of kinship.
THE PATTERN
God brings life and belonging forth from places that seem unable to produce them.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.THE THREAD
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.Matthew’s ἐγεῖραι (egeirai, to raise up) comes from ἐγείρω (egeirō, to rouse or raise); Hebrews uses the same verb in “raise him up.” The shared word links children from stones with Isaac raised from the dead: in both verses, God’s action reaches life where ordinary expectation sees none.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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