What Does Matthew 5:28 Mean in the King James?
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
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 verb behind “lust” is also used for “covet,” placing adultery in desire that lays claim to another before any outward act.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now wherever a gaze is deliberately used to feed desire: the inward breach is already present before outward contact. It names the difference between seeing someone and looking with the aim of desiring her.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that adultery begins only with physical contact; Jesus locates it earlier, in the gaze that consents to desire.
THE ROOT
ἐπιθυμῆσαι
epithymēsai
GROWS FROM
ἐπιθυμ-
epithym-
To set desire upon; to long for or covet.
“lust after” in this verse is epithymēsai. The infinitive ἐπιθυμῆσαι (epithymēsai, “to desire or covet”) describes the aim of the look, not mere seeing. Its word family also appears in the Greek text of the commandment against coveting a neighbor’s wife, joining inward desire to the adultery named here.
ALSO GROWS
epithymeō: The verb form: to desire, long for, or covet.
ἐπιθυμέω
The Greek text of Exodus 20:17 uses this verb for “covet,” including the neighbor’s wife; Matthew uses the same word family for the gaze aimed at desire.
epithymia: The noun form: desire, longing, or coveting.
ἐπιθυμία
James 1:14 uses this noun for desire that draws and entices, showing how the inward pull can precede an outward act.
THE PATTERN
The inward act takes shape when attention is deliberately bent toward desire.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.THE THREAD
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.The Greek text of Exodus uses ἐπιθυμέω (epithymeō, “to desire or covet”) for “covet,” including the neighbor’s wife; Matthew uses the same word family for the gaze aimed at desire. The shared wording carries the commandment’s boundary into the heart: the coveting named there is the inward adultery named here.
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