What Does Mark 14:21 Mean?
The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that human by whom the Son of Man is handed over. It would have been good for that human if he had never been born.
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
The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.THE KEY
The verse holds the written path and the betrayer’s responsibility together: a larger purpose does not erase the weight of a handover.
THE MEANING
The Son of Man goes as written, while the man who hands him over remains under woe. A larger unfolding does not make the betrayer’s act weightless. The final line gives that burden its severity: for that man, never being born would be better.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that taking part in a larger purpose makes a person’s betrayal innocent.
THE ROOT
παραδίδοται
paradidotai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; the compound παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi) means to hand over, deliver, or entrust.
“is handed over” in this verse is paradidotai. The word translated “betrayed” is a form of παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi, to hand over or deliver), built on δίδωμι (didōmi, to give). It gives betrayal the concrete shape of handing a person into another’s power.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: To give or grant.
δίδωμι
The base word makes the act of betrayal legible as a transfer: the Son of Man is given over.
apodidōmi: To give back or repay.
ἀποδίδωμι
The same giving family can describe returning what is owed; here the compound names a handover into another’s power.
metadidōmi: To share or impart.
μεταδίδωμι
This branch also describes giving something to another, while Mark’s compound names the severe transfer of a person.
ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
ho huios tou
GROWS FROM
ἀνθρωπ-
anthrōp-
A human being or person; in the title, “Son of Man” names him through humanity.
The Greek uses ἄνθρωπος (anthrōpos, human being) in both “Son of Man” and “that man.” The title and the betrayer stand in the same human word-field, while their actions sharply diverge.
ALSO GROWS
anthrōpinos: Human, belonging to human beings.
ἀνθρώπινος
This branch keeps the title’s human word-family visible beneath the English phrase.
philanthrōpia: Kindness toward humankind.
φιλανθρωπία
The same human seed appears in a word for kindness toward people; here the repeated human word names a betrayer’s act.
THE PATTERN
A larger purpose can carry an event forward without erasing the human intention or accountability within it.
As for you, you planned evil against me, but God planned it for good, to make it as it is this day, to keep a great people alive.And it shall be, when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, that I will visit upon the fruit of the swelling heart of the king of Assyria, and the adorning of his lifted eyes.This one, handed over by the marked-out counsel and foreknowing of God, you nailed to the cross by the hands of the unbounded, and you killed him.THE THREAD
And said to them, What will you give me, and I will hand him over to you? And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.Matthew places δοῦναι (dounai, “to give”) beside παραδώσω (paradōsō, “I will hand over”); the second is παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi, “to hand over or deliver”), built on δίδωμι (didōmi, “to give”). The shared word-family makes the betrayal a transaction: Judas asks what he will receive in exchange for giving a person over.
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