What Does Mark 11:21 Mean?
And Peter, remembering, said to him, Teacher, look, the fig tree you cursed has dried up.
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
And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.THE KEY
Remembrance joins the word once spoken to the dryness now visible in the tree.
THE MEANING
Here, Peter sees the fig tree’s dryness and recalls the curse spoken over it. The verse holds the word and its visible consequence together, making their connection clear to you now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A word’s effect is gone simply because the moment of speaking has passed.
THE ROOT
ἐξήρανται
exē-rantai from xērainō
GROWS FROM
ξηρ-
xēr-
dry, parched
“has dried up” in this verse is exē-rantai from xērainō. The Greek form describes drying that has happened and whose result stands now: the tree is dry. This word family makes withering concrete as a condition of dryness, not only an appearance.
ALSO GROWS
xēros: dry, parched
ξηρός
This adjective shares the dry-root sense behind the tree’s condition.
xērainō: to dry up, wither
ξηραίνω
This verb names the process that leaves the tree in the state Peter sees.
ἀναμνησθείς
anamnēstheis
GROWS FROM
μνη-
mnē-
remember, bring to mind
Peter’s remembrance brings the earlier word back into present awareness as he looks at the tree. The Greek word family links remembering with holding something in mind, so the visible dryness becomes legible alongside what was spoken.
ALSO GROWS
mnēmoneuō: remember, keep in mind
μνημονεύω
This related verb shows remembrance as something kept present in the mind.
anamnēsis: remembrance, recalling
ἀνάμνησις
This noun shares the recalling sense that connects Peter’s memory with what he now sees.
THE PATTERN
When life is cut off from its sustaining source, its loss becomes visible as withering.
And as they passed by early in the morning, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.Can the rush rise without mire? Can the reed swell without waters? While it is yet in its greenness, and not plucked, it dries before all grass.If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they burn.THE THREAD
And as they passed by early in the morning, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.Mark uses the same Greek ξηρ- (xēr-) word family for the tree’s drying in both verses. The next verse traces the condition to the roots, making explicit the depth of the dryness Peter sees here.
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