What Does Mark 13:1 Mean?
And as he went out of the temple, one of his learners said to him, Teacher, look at what sort of stones and what sort of buildings are here!
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 as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!THE KEY
The splendor is framed by departure: even the most impressive sacred structure is not the same as permanence.
THE MEANING
What looks immovable can command your attention as if it were permanent. Here, the disciple’s wonder sits beside Jesus leaving the sacred precinct, and the next verse reveals how quickly those ideas separate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a sacred structure’s size makes it permanent.
THE ROOT
οἰκοδομαί
oikodomai
GROWS FROM
οἰκοδομ-
oikodom-
House-building; construction, and by extension building up.
“buildings” in this verse is oikodomai. The same Greek word family can describe both a constructed building and the act of building someone up. The disciple sees finished stonework, while the root also carries the possibility of what is being built in people.
ALSO GROWS
oikodomeō: To build; figuratively, to build up.
οἰκοδομέω
The same house-building family can describe strengthening a person or assembly, so its meaning reaches beyond stone architecture.
oikodomos: Builder.
οἰκοδόμος
This branch shifts attention from the finished monument to the work that made it: the building is constructed, not self-sustaining.
ἱεροῦ
hierou
GROWS FROM
ἱερ-
hier-
Sacred; set apart.
“temple” in this verse is hierou. The word here is ἱερόν (hieron), the sacred precinct as a whole, rather than specifically ναός (naos, the inner sanctuary). The disciple is marveling at the scale of the larger sacred complex, not only at its innermost place.
ALSO GROWS
hiereus: Priest.
ἱερεύς
The same sacred word family includes those who serve within the precinct, placing its meaning in a wider order than architecture alone.
hierateia: Priesthood; priestly service.
ἱερατεία
This branch carries the sacred root into an ongoing service, showing that the sacred is not exhausted by the building that houses it.
THE PATTERN
Visible sacred structures can command admiration, but their stones cannot guarantee the permanence or presence people assign them.
Do not lean your full weight upon lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, the temple, the temple of the LORD, these are.Yet the Highest does not settle in what is made by hands, as the prophet says.For we are fellow workers with God. You are God's field; you are God's building.THE THREAD
And Jesus answered and said to him, Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left one stone upon another that will not be pulled loose.Jesus answers with the same words for “buildings” and “stone” that draw the disciple’s attention. The repeated words turn the marvel toward impermanence: what looks lasting can come down stone by stone.
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