What Does Romans 12:12 Mean in the King James?
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
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 “patience” here is the act of remaining beneath pressure, while hope rejoices and prayer stays engaged.
THE MEANING
You rejoice in an expectation that remains meaningful while tribulation is real. You remain under pressure and continue giving yourself to prayer; the verse holds all three as present ways of living at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that pressure means hope has failed: joy and prayer are present in the same verse as tribulation.
THE ROOT
ὑπομένοντες
hypomenontes
GROWS FROM
ὑπομένω (hypomenō), from ὑπό (hypo, under) + μένω (menō, remain)
Remain under; endure by staying beneath pressure.
“Patient” can sound like a temperament or passive waiting. The Greek word means remaining under what presses on you: the pressure is still present, and so is the one enduring it.
ALSO GROWS
menō: Remain, stay, abide
μένω
The seed of endurance is staying; tribulation does not erase the capacity to remain.
hypomonē: Endurance, steadfastness
ὑπομονή
This related noun names the sustained endurance expressed by the verse’s “patient.”
προσκαρτεροῦντες
proskarterountes
GROWS FROM
προσκαρτερέω (proskartereō), from πρός (pros, toward or at) + καρτερέω (kartereō, remain steadfast)
Persist with; remain devoted to something.
“Continuing instant” means more than praying at isolated moments: the verb describes persistent devotion to prayer. It completes the verse’s picture of a person staying engaged even while pressure remains.
ALSO GROWS
kartereō: Remain steadfast, endure
καρτερέω
The underlying firmness links persistent prayer with the endurance named earlier in the verse.
karteria: Steadfastness, endurance
καρτερία
This related noun brings out the sustained quality carried into the act of continuing in prayer.
ἐλπίδι
elpidi
GROWS FROM
ἐλπ-
elp-
Expect; anticipate.
The Greek word ἐλπίς (elpis, expectation or hope) carries the sense of looking toward what is expected, not merely wishing. The verse places rejoicing within that expectation while tribulation is still present.
ALSO GROWS
elpis: Expectation, hope
ἐλπίς
The noun names the expectation in which the verse locates rejoicing.
elpizō: Expect, hope
ἐλπίζω
The related verb shows hope as an active orientation toward what is expected.
THE PATTERN
Hope sustains joy, endurance, and prayer while pressure is still present.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.THE THREAD
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;Romans 5:3 uses ὑπομονή (hypomonē, endurance), the noun from the same word-family as ὑπομένω (hypomenō, remain under or endure) in “patient” here, and names tribulation as what produces it. The shared root reveals endurance as something formed beneath pressure.
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