What Does Romans 12:19 Mean in the King James?
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
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 command to give place and the promise “I will repay” share the Greek root for giving: the space is made by entrusting repayment to God.
THE MEANING
Even amid the pressure to answer injury, the reader is addressed as beloved. The verse makes room for wrath while placing vengeance and repayment with the Lord; the wrong is not erased, but its final accounting is not the injured person’s possession.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that if you do not retaliate, the wrong will go unanswered: the verse names the Lord as the one who repays.
THE ROOT
ἐκδίκησις
ekdikēsis
GROWS FROM
δίκη
dikē
Right, justice, or what is due.
The word for vengeance is built around the language of justice and what is due. The verse places that claim with the Lord, so injury is neither denied nor made the injured person’s private law.
ALSO GROWS
dikē: Right, justice, what is due
δίκη
This root places vengeance in the sphere of justice and due account.
ekdikeō: Vindicate, avenge, carry out justice
ἐκδικέω
The related verb shows vengeance as an act of vindication, which the verse assigns to the Lord.
ἀνταποδώσω
antapodōsō
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or entrust.
The verb translated “I will repay” is formed from the Greek word for giving. The verse’s “give place” and “repay” share that root: room is given, and the returning of what is due belongs to the Lord.
ALSO GROWS
dote: Give
δότε
This is the verb used in “give place,” linking the act of making room with the root of repayment.
apodidōmi: Give back, render, repay
ἀποδίδωμι
This related verb makes repayment a form of giving back what is due.
THE PATTERN
When wrong invites repayment, scripture assigns final recompense to God and restrains personal retaliation.
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:THE THREAD
To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.Romans quotes Deuteronomy’s claim that vengeance and recompense belong to the Lord. That promise makes room for retaliation to yield its place without making the wrong disappear.
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