What Does Matthew 9:20 Mean in the King James?
And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
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 word for “touched” can also mean “take hold,” so her contact at the garment’s edge is a deliberate grasp, not a passing brush.
THE MEANING
Long-term bleeding is present, and so is her capacity to move toward contact. She comes from behind and reaches the fringe without a word.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a long affliction leaves a person only passive; she is still the one who moves and reaches.
THE ROOT
ἥψατο
hēpsato
GROWS FROM
ἅπτω
hapto
To fasten or attach; in the middle voice, to touch or take hold.
“touched” in this verse is hēpsato. The form here comes from ἅπτομαι (haptomai), a verb that can mean “touch” or “take hold.” The Greek keeps a sense of grasping and connection inside what English can make sound like incidental contact.
ALSO GROWS
haptomai: To touch, take hold of.
ἅπτομαι
This is the verb used here: she reaches and makes contact with the garment.
haphē: Touch, contact; also a joint or point of joining.
ἁφή
This related word can name a bodily joint, linking contact with the structure that joins one part to another.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly places restoration at the point where a suffering body makes physical contact.
And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.THE THREAD
And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:In the Greek translation of Numbers, “fringe” is κράσπεδον (kraspedon), the same word translated “hem” in Matthew. The edge she touches is a marked fringe associated with remembering the commandments, not just an unspecified edge of cloth.
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