What Does Matthew 6:29 Mean in the King James?
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
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
A flower’s received covering surpasses the weight a king can gather.
THE MEANING
The verse directs your attention to a beauty that arrives as covering, not as royal display. Even Solomon in all his weight cannot match one flower’s adornment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that beauty must be earned or displayed through rank and accumulation to count.
THE ROOT
περιεβάλετο
periebaleto
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
To throw or cast; with περί (peri, around), to put or cast around.
The verb pictures a covering put around the body, a detail the English “arrayed” can hide. The flower’s splendor appears as something wrapped around it, rather than royal display it assembles for itself.
ALSO GROWS
periballō: Put around; clothe
περιβάλλω
This is the verb behind “arrayed,” making the covering itself central to the image.
epiballō: Lay upon; put on
ἐπιβάλλω
It shares the sense of something being placed upon, reinforcing the image of adornment as covering.
ekballō: Cast out; drive out
ἐκβάλλω
It preserves the root’s concrete sense of casting, showing how the surrounding prefix shapes the direction of the action.
δόξῃ
doxē
GROWS FROM
δόξα
doxa
Weight: the esteem or honor carried by someone or something.
“glory” in this verse is doxē. Solomon’s full weight of esteem still cannot match the flower’s covering. The comparison places royal stature beside a beauty that is already present without the king’s display.
ALSO GROWS
doxazō: Glorify; honor
δοξάζω
The verb expresses the act of giving honor or weight, clarifying the esteem bound up in Solomon’s glory.
endoxos: Honored; glorious
ἔνδοξος
This describes what is held in esteem, echoing the public splendor the verse sets beside the flower.
שְׁלֹמֹה
Shelomoh
GROWS FROM
שָׁלַם
shalam
To be whole or complete.
Solomon’s name is associated with shalom, wholeness. Even the king whose name carries that echo of completeness cannot outshine one flower’s covering.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; peace
שָׁלוֹם
This related word brings the name’s echo of completeness into view beside the flower’s full adornment.
shalem: Whole; complete
שָׁלֵם
This form makes the root’s sense of completeness explicit, sharpening the contrast with Solomon’s unmatched royal splendor.
THE PATTERN
Splendor that surpasses human display is received as covering rather than gathered through rank.
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?THE THREAD
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.“Shall be clothed” translates περιβαλεῖται (peribaleitai), from the same verb περιβάλλω (periballō) as “arrayed” in Matthew. The shared verb opens the flower’s covering into a recurring image of splendor received.
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