What Does Matthew 8:33 Mean in the King James?

And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

Matthew 8:33 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The men flee from the upheaval, but their flight carries the event into the city.

THE MEANING

What erupts at the edge does not remain there: the keepers run into the city and report everything, including what has happened to the men under demonic influence. The people who flee become the carriers of the event into public life.

THE ROOT

ἀπήγγειλαν

apēngeilan

GROWS FROM

ἀγγελ-

angel-

To announce, report, or make something known.

The Greek verb behind “told” belongs to the same word family as “messenger.” The keepers are not just speaking among themselves: they carry what happened from the pasture into the city’s knowledge.

ALSO GROWS

ángelos: Messenger

ἄγγελος

The shared stem links the keepers’ report to the act of carrying news to others.

angelía: Message or announcement

ἀγγελία

The report is a message that moves beyond the people who witnessed the event.

THE PATTERN

What witnesses discover beyond the center enters public life when they carry the account into a city or community.

Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.

2 Kings 7:9 · KJVThose who discover the abandoned camp recognize that the news cannot stay with them; they set out to carry it to the city’s household.

The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

John 4:28 · KJVAfter her encounter at the well, she goes into the city and begins speaking; the next verse gives her invitation to come see what she has encountered.

And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.

Mark 5:20 · KJVThe man who has been freed carries his account through the surrounding region, where people hear and respond with astonishment.

THE THREAD

When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country.

Luke 8:34 · KJV

Luke records the same movement: the herdsmen flee, then carry the account into the city and countryside. Their flight becomes the path by which what happened reaches other people.

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