What Does Philippians 2:19 Mean?
But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy swiftly to you, that I too may be of good living soul, when I know the things concerning you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.THE KEY
The comfort comes through a person being sent and a life being known: the Greek word behind “good comfort” carries the sense of a living soul being well.
THE MEANING
You are held in expectation rooted in the Lord Jesus, and care for you takes shape as someone is sent to you. Knowing how you are becomes a source of another person’s encouragement. The verse places connection, knowledge, and comfort in one living movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that your condition is private and inconsequential to others: another person’s encouragement depends on knowing how you are.
THE ROOT
εὐψυχῶ
eupsychō
GROWS FROM
ψυχ-
The Greek root ψυχ- (psych-) carries the sense of ψυχή, the living soul or life.
The verb εὐψυχῶ joins εὖ, “well,” with ψυχή, “living soul”: being of “good comfort” carries the sense of the living soul being well. The report about you can bring another person’s inner life into that good state.
ALSO GROWS
psychē: Living soul; life.
ψυχή
The same root names the living person and life itself, so the comfort here touches the state of a living soul.
psychikos: Natural; belonging to the living soul.
ψυχικός
This branch shows ψυχ- can describe a whole animate, inward life, not just a passing feeling.
empsychos: Living; animate; ensouled.
ἔμψυχος
The shared ψυχ- root marks what is alive, deepening the sense of encouragement as well-being within a living person.
γνούς
gnous
GROWS FROM
γνω-
The Greek root γνω- (gnō-) carries the sense of knowing or recognizing.
“know” in this verse is gnous. The knowing comes before the speaker’s encouragement: learning how you are is the hinge in the verse. This Greek family includes both knowing and making known, so knowledge here moves within a relationship.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: Knowledge; knowing.
γνῶσις
The shared root connects the specific news about you to the wider act of knowing.
gnōrizō: Make known; disclose.
γνωρίζω
The same root can describe knowledge being shared, fitting the verse’s movement from your condition to another person’s encouragement.
πέμψαι
pempsai
GROWS FROM
πεμπ-
The Greek root πεμπ- (pemp-) carries the sense of sending or dispatching.
“send” in this verse is pempsai. The verse’s expectation takes concrete form in sending Timothy. The root frames care as movement across distance, so the hope of hearing about you comes through a person sent to you.
ALSO GROWS
pempō: Send; dispatch.
πέμπω
This is the verb’s base form, making clear that the expected action is an actual sending.
ekpempō: Send out; dispatch forth.
ἐκπέμπω
The compound preserves πεμπ- and emphasizes movement outward from the sender toward another.
THE PATTERN
News of another’s condition can cross distance and turn care into shared joy.
As cold waters on a faint living soul, so is good report from a far land.But now when Timothy came to us from you, and brought us good news of your trust and love, and that you hold us in good memory always, aching to see us, as we also ache to see you.I have no greater joy than this, to hear my children walking in truth.THE THREAD
For what does it profit a human, if he gains the whole world and is damaged in his living soul? Or what will a human give in exchange for his living soul?Matthew uses ψυχή for the soul a person cannot exchange for the world; Philippians embeds that same word in εὐψυχῶ. Together, they reveal “good comfort” as the well-being of the living soul, not a mood detached from life.
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