What Does Mark 14:13 Mean?
And he sent out two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the city, and a man carrying a clay jar of water will meet you. Follow 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 he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.THE KEY
The man’s ordinary act of carrying water uses the same Greek verb as bearing one another’s burdens and carrying the cross, joining this small clue to Scripture’s larger language of bearing.
THE MEANING
Your next movement may be clear before the whole route is: here, the instruction is to enter the city and follow the person carrying water. The passage lets direction unfold through a recognizable encounter, step by step.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a path is trustworthy only when its destination is disclosed in full: the disciples receive a recognizable next sign and move by following it.
THE ROOT
βαστάζων
bastazōn
GROWS FROM
βαστάζω
bastazō
To carry, lift, or bear; used for carrying something physically and for bearing a load.
This participle belongs to the same verb used for carrying one another’s burdens and bearing the cross. English preserves “bearing” here, but the Greek root makes this water-carrier part of a wider scriptural language of carrying.
ALSO GROWS
bastazete: Carry or bear.
βαστάζετε
Galatians 6:2 uses this form for bearing one another’s burdens, showing that the same root extends from carrying an object to carrying a burden for another.
bastazōn: Carrying a load.
βαστάζων
John 19:17 uses this participle for Jesus bearing his cross; the same verb spans the water pitcher and the cross.
ἀκολουθήσατε
akolouthēsate
GROWS FROM
ἀκολουθ-
akolouth-
To follow or accompany someone, moving after them as a guide.
“Follow him” in this verse is akolouthēsate. The disciples do not receive an abstract direction; they are told to attach their movement to a person going ahead. The Gospel also uses this verb for following Jesus, giving “follow” the texture of relationship and discipleship as well as physical movement.
ALSO GROWS
akolouthos: A companion, attendant, or follower.
ἀκόλουθος
The related noun names one who accompanies; following is a relation to another person, not simply watching their movement.
akoloutheitō: Let him follow.
ἀκολουθείτω
Mark 8:34 uses this form in Jesus’ call to follow him, showing the same root at work in the Gospel’s language of discipleship.
ἀποστέλλει
apostellei
GROWS FROM
στέλλω
stellō
To send or dispatch; here, ἀποστέλλω (apostellō) means to send forth.
“sent out” in this verse is apostellei. The sending and the identity of a sent messenger belong to one Greek word-family. The disciples are dispatched, and the related noun for a sent one grows from the same sending language.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: A sent one or messenger.
ἀπόστολος
The related noun names the person by the act of being sent, linking this dispatch to the wider language of messengers.
apostolē: A sending, mission, or commission.
ἀποστολή
This noun names the act or charge of sending, keeping the disciples’ movement connected to the purpose of their being sent.
THE PATTERN
The next stretch of a path becomes legible by following the guide or light available at the next step.
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to shine for them; to go by day and night.Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.When he drives out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they perceive his voice.THE THREAD
And when he had called the multitude to himself, with his disciples as well, he said to them, Whoever would come after me, let him say no to himself, and lift up his cross, and follow me.Mark uses ἀκολουθέω (akoloutheō, “follow” or “accompany”) in both passages. Here the disciples follow a bearer through the city; in the connected verse, the same verb names following Jesus, opening this concrete act of following onto the Gospel’s language of discipleship.
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