What Does Romans 11:2 Mean in the King James?
God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
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
Elijah can speak against Israel, but his accusation cannot turn God’s prior knowing into rejection.
THE MEANING
God does not cast away the people he knows; even a plea that speaks against them does not become the final measure of their belonging. The verse holds open a difference between accusation and abandonment: the people remain within God’s knowing now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A true accusation of a people’s failure means God has already rejected them.
THE ROOT
προέγνω
proegnō
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω
ginōskō
To know, recognize, or perceive; the form here joins it to πρό (pro), “before.”
“foreknew” in this verse is proegnō. The Greek joins “before” to “know, perceive.” The clause places the people within God’s prior knowing, so Elijah’s appeal against Israel cannot be the last word about whether they still belong.
ALSO GROWS
ginōskō: Know, perceive, recognize.
γινώσκω
This is the base verb carried inside “foreknew”; it points to knowing, not merely having information about someone.
gnōsis: Knowledge, knowing.
γνῶσις
This related word shares the same seed and makes visible the connection between knowing a people and speaking of what is known.
epiginōskō: Recognize, know fully.
ἐπιγινώσκω
This related verb keeps the emphasis on recognition, showing the wider family of meanings carried by the root.
ἀπώσατο
apōsato
GROWS FROM
ὠθέω
ōtheō
To push or thrust.
“cast away” in this verse is apōsato. The denied action has the image of pushing someone away. Beside “foreknew,” this is more than an abstract verdict: the verse denies that God thrusts out the people already held in his knowing.
ALSO GROWS
apōtheō: Push away, thrust aside, reject.
ἀπωθέω
This is the verb behind “cast away”; its force makes the verse’s denial concrete.
exōtheō: Drive out, thrust out.
ἐξωθέω
This related compound carries the same pushing root toward expulsion, clarifying the force the verse says God does not enact.
THE PATTERN
God’s knowing holds a people within belonging even when accusation or abandonment seems to define them.
For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.THE THREAD
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.The claim of being alone is met with a remainder the speaker cannot see: seven thousand remain. Romans 11:2 carries that same reversal, the accusation against Israel does not reveal the whole extent of God’s keeping.
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