What Does Mark 3:13 Mean?
And he went up into the mountain, and called to himself whom he would, and they came to 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 goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.THE KEY
The call begins in Jesus’ desire, and its direction is nearness: he summons people to himself, and they come.
THE MEANING
This verse shows a summons that begins in Jesus’ desire and opens into nearness: he calls, and the called ones come to him. The movement leads beyond the mountain toward a person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that movement toward Jesus must begin with the one who comes; here, his desire initiates the summons.
THE ROOT
προσκαλεῖται
proskaleitai
GROWS FROM
καλ- / καλέω (kaleō)
To call, summon, or invite; with προς (pros), toward, the verb means to call someone to oneself.
“called to himself” in this verse is proskaleitai. The verb holds both the summons and its direction: Jesus calls these people toward himself. English gives the sound of calling, while the Greek also carries the movement into nearness.
ALSO GROWS
klēsis: A calling or invitation.
κλῆσις
The related noun names the call as an invitation that can be received.
klētos: Called or invited.
κλητός
This related form describes someone as the one addressed by a call, linking the summons to the person who receives it.
ἤθελεν
ēthelen
GROWS FROM
θέλω
thelō
To want, wish, or desire.
“would” in this verse is ēthelen. The call is directed toward those Jesus wants; it rises from personal desire, not from an impersonal summons. That desire and their coming meet in the same brief scene.
ALSO GROWS
thelōn: Wanting or willing.
θέλων
This form keeps the same root in a description of one who wants, echoing the personal choice in the verse.
thelēma: Will or desire.
θέλημα
The related noun names what is wanted, making the desire behind the summons visible in the same word family.
THE PATTERN
A summons begins in the one who calls and becomes visible in the movement of the one who answers.
And the LORD called Samuel, and he answered, Here I am.And straightway he called them, and they let go of their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers, and went behind him.For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the LORD our God calls to himself.THE THREAD
And straightway he called them, and they let go of their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers, and went behind him.Both verses use the καλέω (kaleō, call or summon) word family. In Mark 1:20 the called ones go after Jesus; in Mark 3:13, the summons is explicitly toward him, and they come.
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