What Does Mark 2:14 Mean?
As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he rose and followed 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 as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphæus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.THE KEY
Levi’s name means “joined,” and the verse makes that meaning visible when he rises and follows.
THE MEANING
You are met where you are sitting, before any change of position has happened. The call becomes a clear movement: Levi rises from the booth and goes with the one who calls him. His name, “joined,” becomes visible as a relationship enacted in motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that you must already be moving in the right direction to be seen; Levi is seen while still seated at the booth.
THE ROOT
ἀκολουθέω
akoloutheō
GROWS FROM
ἀκολουθ-
akolouth-
The Greek word family for following or accompanying; to go with someone.
The same verb names Jesus’ call and Levi’s response: “Follow me” becomes “he followed.” The wording holds the invitation and the act of going with the caller together.
ALSO GROWS
akolouthei: Follow! (a command)
ἀκολούθει
This is the form of the verb in Jesus’ call to Levi.
ēkolouthēsen: He followed (an action)
ἠκολούθησεν
This is the same verb in the account of Levi’s response; the call is answered by accompanying movement.
ἀναστάς
anastas
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι
histēmi
To stand or set; with ἀνά (ana), the verb ἀνίστημι means to stand up or rise.
“arose” in this verse is anastas. The verse makes following bodily: Levi first rises from sitting, then goes with Jesus. The same word family gives ἀνάστασις (anastasis), “rising” or “resurrection,” so the ordinary act of getting up belongs to a wider vocabulary of rising.
ALSO GROWS
anistēmi: Rise, stand up
ἀνίστημι
This is the verb behind the form translated “arose,” and it makes Levi’s change of posture explicit.
anastasis: Rising, resurrection
ἀνάστασις
This noun shares the rise-word family and shows how the ordinary verb for standing up also names a rising from death.
לֵוִי
Levi
GROWS FROM
לוה
To join or attach.
Levi’s Hebrew name carries the sense of being joined. Here, the story lets that name resonate through his action: he rises and goes with the one who calls him.
ALSO GROWS
lavah: Join, attach, accompany
לָוָה
This root supplies the joining sense associated with Levi’s name.
yillaveh: Will be joined
יִלָּוֶה
This form appears in the naming explanation in Genesis 29:34, making the relational sense of Levi’s name explicit.
THE PATTERN
A call becomes visible when someone leaves a settled place and moves with the one who calls.
And straightway they let go of their nets, and followed him.So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he went out of Haran.The next day Jesus wanted to, and went out into Galilee, and found Philip, and said to him, Follow me.THE THREAD
My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.The same Greek verb translated “follow” links the verses: in Mark, it first arrives as a command and then becomes Levi’s action. In John, following belongs with hearing the voice and being known, opening Levi’s response as a relationship, not just a change of location.
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