What Does Romans 12:20 Mean?
So if your enemy hungers, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink, for by doing this you will heap coals of fire upon his head.
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
Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.THE KEY
The enemy’s need is met while the enmity is still there.
THE MEANING
The person opposing you still has a body that hungers and thirsts. The verse holds provision and hostility together, then keeps the image of coals heaped on the enemy’s head in view. Feeding him does not make the hostility disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Hostility makes another person’s hunger and thirst irrelevant.
THE ROOT
ἐχθρός
echthros
GROWS FROM
ἐχθρ-
echthr-
Hostile; the word family names both the hostile person and the state of enmity.
“enemy” in this verse is echthros. The verse leaves this person inside the word-family of active hostility; he need not become harmless before his hunger is answered. Enmity and bodily need occupy the same sentence.
ALSO GROWS
echthra: Enmity, hostility
ἔχθρα
This names the hostile relation itself, showing that the verse addresses need within an unresolved conflict.
echthrainō: To be hostile, to hate
ἐχθραίνω
This verb presents hostility as an active relation, not a label that erases the person’s other realities.
ψώμιζε
psōmize
GROWS FROM
ψωμ-
psōm-
A morsel or mouthful; as a verb, to feed by giving morsels.
The verb translated “feed” is ψωμίζω, which carries the concrete sense of giving food in portions. Paul uses the same verb for feeding the poor in 1 Corinthians 13:3, linking this act of provision to the distribution of food among the vulnerable.
ALSO GROWS
psōmion: A morsel or piece of bread
ψωμίον
This noun preserves the small, tangible portion of food contained in the verb translated “feed.”
psōmos: A morsel or mouthful
ψωμός
This related noun keeps the action close to an actual bite of food rather than an abstract gesture of goodwill.
THE PATTERN
The enemy’s need remains answerable with concrete good while hostility is still named.
If the one who hates you hungers, feed him bread; and if he thirsts, give him water to drink. For you heap burning coals upon his head, and the LORD repays you.But I say to you, love your enemies, speak well over those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse you and pursue you.But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Highest, for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.THE THREAD
And if I feed out in morsels all that lies under my hand, and if I hand over my body that I may boast, but do not hold love, it helps me nothing.“Feed” here and “to feed” in this verse translate the same Greek verb, ψωμίζω. The shared word links provision for an enemy with giving food to the poor: both are concrete acts of feeding.
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