What Does Mark 10:37 Mean?
They said to him, Give us that we may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your weight.
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
They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.THE KEY
They ask for seats beside Jesus in his glory, and the word beneath “glory” carries the sense of weight: they want a place within what he bears.
THE MEANING
The desire for a place beside the one whose weight matters is alive in you. Even the request, “Grant unto us,” names that place as something given by another, not self-appointed.
THE ROOT
δόξα
doxa
GROWS FROM
δοξ-
dox-
Weight: substance, honor, or standing that is carried and recognized.
The brothers are asking for more than visible splendor; they want seats within Jesus’ weight. Their request is to share in the standing and substance they see in him.
ALSO GROWS
doxazō: To honor or glorify.
δοξάζω
To glorify is to recognize and give weight to someone; the branch makes the honor in their request visible.
endoxos: Honored, glorious, of high standing.
ἔνδοξος
This branch describes someone whose standing carries weight, echoing the place beside Jesus they ask to receive.
δός
dos
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, bestow, or hand over.
“Grant” in this verse is dos. Their first word makes the nature of the request plain: the place they want depends on being given it. The verb family can also describe handing something over or giving it back, keeping the focus on what passes from one to another.
ALSO GROWS
apodidōmi: To give back, render, or repay.
ἀποδίδωμι
This compound shows the same giving root in an act of transfer; the requested place, too, is something received.
paradidōmi: To hand over or deliver.
παραδίδωμι
This branch makes the movement of giving concrete: what is asked for must be handed over by another.
THE PATTERN
The weight associated with God is given and shared, drawing others into participation rather than private possession.
And you make him a little short of God, and you crown him with weight and splendor.And the weight you gave me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one.And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and co-heirs with the Anointed One; if indeed we suffer together with him, so that we may also be clothed in weight with him.THE THREAD
But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink, and be immersed in the immersion that I am immersed in?The next verse answers their request for seats by naming the cup and immersion bound to Jesus’ path. The place beside him carries participation in what he bears.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us