What Does Matthew 8:15 Mean in the King James?
And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.
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 fever’s departure uses ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, “leave” or “release”), the same Greek verb Matthew uses for forgiving debts, so healing carries the image of release.
THE MEANING
The scene lets you see illness without making it the whole person: the fever leaves, and she rises. Her service follows the release; it does not earn it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undercuts the belief that care must be earned through usefulness: she is touched and restored before she ministers.
THE ROOT
ἀφῆκεν
aphēken
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To leave, let go, or release; the same verb can also mean forgive.
The verb translated “left” can describe something departing or a debt being released. That range lets the fever’s departure carry the sense of release, without making sickness a debt or moral fault.
ALSO GROWS
aphiēmi: To leave, release, or forgive.
ἀφίημι
In Matthew 6:12, this verb describes forgiving debts, linking the fever’s departure with the image of letting go.
aphesis: Release or remission.
ἄφεσις
This related noun names release directly, making visible the wider language-family behind the fever’s departure.
ἠγέρθη
ēgerthē
GROWS FROM
ἐγείρω
egeirō
To wake, rouse, or raise.
“arose” in this verse is ēgerthē. The verb used for her rising also appears in language for awakening and resurrection. Here she rises from the bed and returns to the people around her; recovery is pictured as renewed movement.
ALSO GROWS
egeirō: To wake, rouse, or raise.
ἐγείρω
The verb family includes both waking and being raised, extending this bedside rising into a wider scriptural image of life returning.
egersis: A raising or resurrection.
ἔγερσις
This related noun uses the same word-family for resurrection, showing how the verse’s simple “arose” belongs to a broader language of rising.
THE PATTERN
Restoration is shown as affliction giving way and movement returning.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.THE THREAD
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.Matthew 8:15 uses ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, “leave” or “release”) for the fever’s departure; here the same verb-family describes releasing debts. The shared language connects departure and forgiveness through the image of something let go, without equating illness with debt.
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