What Does Mark 11:4 Mean?
And they went away and found the colt bound by a door outside, at the crossing of two ways, and they untied him.
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 they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him.THE KEY
The colt is not given a new road; it is released where two roads already meet.
THE MEANING
You can be held where paths meet, with movement still possible on the other side of the tether. Release removes what keeps you from moving into the way already opening; it does not have to create a new way forward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being bound at a crossroads does not mean you have no way forward; the binding can be undone.
THE ROOT
λύουσιν
lyousin
GROWS FROM
λύω
to loosen, untie, release
“untied” in this verse is lyousin. The word translated “loose” belongs to a Greek word family for release. Here the action is concrete: the tether comes undone, and the colt can move.
ALSO GROWS
apolyō: release, dismiss
ἀπολύω
This compound carries the same release-root into the act of letting someone go; the colt’s untying belongs to a wider family of release.
lytron: ransom, price of release
λύτρον
This related word names a ransom as the means of release, showing the root’s reach from untying a tether to release from captivity.
δεδεμένον
dedemenon
GROWS FROM
δέω
to bind, tie
“bound” in this verse is dedemenon. The colt’s tied condition and its release are expressed by opposite actions: δέω binds, while λύω loosens. The text’s turn comes when the bond is removed, leaving the colt free to move.
ALSO GROWS
desmos: bond, chain
δεσμός
This related noun names the bond itself, making visible what the act of λύω removes.
desmios: a bound person, prisoner
δέσμιος
This word describes someone held by a bond; it shows how the same binding family extends from a tether to captivity.
THE PATTERN
Release removes a bond that keeps life from moving into its opening.
The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.And this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom the Adversary has bound, look, these eighteen years, ought she not to be unbound from this binding on the sabbath day?God raised him up, having loosed the labor pangs of death, for it was not possible for him to be held by it.THE THREAD
The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.“Loose” in both verses comes from λύω (lyō), meaning to loosen or release. In Mark the tether is undone; here the graveclothes are undone, and the one held by them comes forth.
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