What Does Matthew 9:6 Mean in the King James?
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
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 verse makes the unseen release visible by pairing forgiveness with the command to rise and carry the bed that held him.
THE MEANING
The release named here reaches what is hidden and takes visible shape as the man rises, carries his bed, and goes home. The verse holds forgiveness and restored movement together in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It challenges the idea that forgiveness here is only an invisible claim: Jesus pairs the spoken release with a visible sign of authority.
THE ROOT
ἀφιέναι
aphienai
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι (aphiēmi), from ἀπό (apo) + ἵημι (hiēmi)
Send away; leave; release.
Here “forgive” is ἀφιέναι (aphienai), “to release or let go,” from ἀφίημι (aphiēmi), “send away, release.” The same verb family describes the disciples leaving their nets, so forgiveness shares the concrete sense of letting something go.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release, dismissal, remission.
ἄφεσις
This related noun names release itself, bringing the sense of letting go into the word for forgiveness.
aphentes: Having left or let go; a form of ἀφίημι.
ἀφέντες
Matthew 4:20 uses this form when the disciples leave their nets; the same verb carries both that concrete act of leaving and the release of sins here.
ἔγειρε
egeire
GROWS FROM
ἐγείρω
egeirō
Wake; raise; rouse.
The command ἔγειρε (egeire), “arise,” comes from ἐγείρω (egeirō), “wake or raise.” Its family reaches from waking someone to the noun ἔγερσις (egersis), “raising, resurrection,” so rising from the bed shares language with being raised.
ALSO GROWS
egersis: Raising; resurrection.
ἔγερσις
Matthew 27:53 uses this noun for resurrection, carrying the same raising language beyond getting up from a bed.
diegeirō: Wake; rouse.
διεγείρω
Matthew 8:25 uses this related compound when the disciples wake Jesus; the word family connects rising with waking from sleep.
THE PATTERN
Release that reaches the unseen becomes legible here through the body’s return to movement.
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;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 leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.THE THREAD
And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.Luke’s “are forgiven” renders ἀφέωνται (apheōntai), a form of ἀφίημι (aphiēmi), “release, leave, forgive.” Matthew pairs that spoken release with a body rising, while Luke lets the release stand in the words themselves.
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