What Does Romans 2:9 Mean in the King James?
Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
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 pictures evil as narrowing the whole living soul under pressure, with no identity exempt.
THE MEANING
When you work what is evil, tribulation and anguish press upon your whole living soul. No lineage or identity places anyone outside this reckoning; the same measure reaches everyone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that identity or status can exempt you from the consequences of what you do.
THE ROOT
στενοχωρία
stenochōria
GROWS FROM
στενοχωρ- (stenochōr-), from στενός (stenos) and χώρα (chōra)
Narrowness of space; being hemmed into a cramped place.
The word translated “anguish” carries the image of life pressed into a narrow space. Beside tribulation, it shows pressure becoming confinement in the whole living soul.
ALSO GROWS
stenos: Narrow, confined.
στενός
Its sense of narrowness reveals the constriction inside “anguish.”
stenochōreō: To be cramped or pressed for room.
στενοχωρέω
This related verb makes the image tangible: anguish is a life hemmed in.
θλῖψις
thlipsis
GROWS FROM
θλίβω
thlibō
To press, squeeze, or crowd.
“Tribulation” carries the force of pressure, not merely a passing discomfort. Together with narrow-space anguish, it describes pressure that bears down and confines.
ALSO GROWS
thlibō: To press, squeeze, or afflict.
θλίβω
The verb exposes the physical force held inside “tribulation.”
thlipsis: Pressure, affliction, tribulation.
θλῖψις
The noun names the pressure that arrives upon the living soul.
κατεργαζομένου
katergazomenou
GROWS FROM
ἐργάζομαι
ergazomai
To work, carry out, or bring about.
The phrase “doeth evil” describes working evil out, not merely carrying an inward label. The verse links what is worked through a life with the pressure that comes upon it.
ALSO GROWS
ergon: Work, deed, or action.
ἔργον
This noun shows the deed as something worked into the world.
katergazomai: To work out, accomplish, or bring about.
κατεργάζομαι
This related verb makes the action in the verse active: evil is worked out.
THE PATTERN
What a person works through their actions returns as a condition of life, without regard to status.
But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.THE THREAD
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;The Greek pairs here echo the roots in Romans: θλίβω (thlibō, to press) and στενοχωρέω (stenochōreō, to confine). The distinction is striking: pressure can be present without becoming confinement, while Romans describes tribulation and anguish arriving together upon those who work evil.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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