What Does Philippians 2:26 Mean in the King James?

For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.

Philippians 2:26 · 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.

THE KEY

His illness is not the only ache here: he longs for them, and their knowing he is ill weighs on him in return.

THE MEANING

Affection moves both ways: he yearns for the whole community, and their concern over his sickness reaches him. Longing and distress live together in the same bond.

THE ROOT

ἐπιποθῶν

epipothōn

GROWS FROM

ποθ-

poth-

to long for, to yearn

“longed after” in this verse is epipothōn. The longing word grows from the Greek root for yearning, giving the phrase more than a passing wish: his attention is drawn toward the people he misses. The same root appears in words for longing and earnest desire, connecting affection with an ache that reaches beyond the self.

ALSO GROWS

pothos: longing, desire

πόθος

This noun shows the shared seed beneath the verb: longing is the feeling carried by his words.

epipotheō: to long for, to yearn earnestly

ἐπιποθέω

This is the verb’s lexical form, used elsewhere for a desire to see people; it makes the relational direction of his longing clear.

THE PATTERN

Love makes absence felt as an ache and carries concern between people.

And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

Genesis 43:30 · KJVJoseph’s longing for his brother rises as a bodily ache and breaks into tears.

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

Song of Solomon 5:8 · KJVThe speaker describes love as an illness of longing that needs to reach the beloved.

But now when Timotheus came from you unto us, and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you:

1 Thessalonians 3:6 · KJVThe longing is explicitly mutual: each side desires to see the other.

THE THREAD

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

Romans 1:11 · KJV

“Long” here is ⁨ἐπιποθῶ⁩ (epipothō), from the same Greek root ⁨ποθ-⁩ (poth-, yearning) as “longed after” in Philippians. In both verses, longing is directed toward seeing people, so the shared root makes the relational pull audible across the two passages.

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