What Does Matthew 6:17 Mean in the King James?
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
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 fast remains real when the face stops advertising it.
THE MEANING
Your fasting remains real beneath an ordinary face: oil on your head and water on your face leave no visible announcement of deprivation. Its reality rests in the hidden relation seen by the Father, not in an expression that solicits notice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If deprivation is not visible on your face, your fast is not real.
THE ROOT
ἄλειψαι
aleipsai
GROWS FROM
ἀλειφ
aleiph
To smear or rub oil onto the body; to anoint.
“anoint” in this verse is aleipsai. The verb belongs to a word family that includes ointment and the person who oils an athlete. The verse pictures ordinary bodily care continuing during a fast, removing its gaunt display without removing the fast itself.
ALSO GROWS
aleimma: Ointment or unguent.
ἄλειμμα
The oil applied to the head is part of the same family as a substance rubbed onto the body.
aleiptēs: One who anoints; a trainer who rubs athletes with oil.
ἀλείπτης
This branch keeps the verb grounded in physical care of the body, not a visible badge of deprivation.
νίψαι
nipsai
GROWS FROM
νιπτ
nipt
To wash, especially a part of the body.
“wash” in this verse is nipsai. The command uses the same concrete washing family that names a washbasin and washing something off. The face is cleansed of the outward trace of fasting, leaving the practice beneath an unchanged public appearance.
ALSO GROWS
niptēr: A washbasin.
νιπτήρ
The word for the basin keeps this washing rooted in an ordinary bodily act.
aponiptō: To wash off.
ἀπονίπτω
This related verb emphasizes washing something away, fitting the face’s outward signs disappearing while the fast remains.
THE PATTERN
A hidden inward reality is not authenticated by visible appearance.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.THE THREAD
After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.Matthew’s face-washing and Jesus’ foot-washing use forms of νίπτω, wash. The same bodily act leaves fasting without an outward signal here and becomes hands-on service there; the surrounding scene gives the washing its meaning.
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