What Does Mark 4:39 Mean?
And waking, he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Be silent. Be muzzled. And the wind wore itself out, and a great calm came.
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 arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE KEY
“Peace, be still” is two silencing commands: the sea is told to hush and then to be muzzled, and calm follows.
THE MEANING
When turmoil fills the reader’s attention, this verse speaks of it being directly addressed and quiet giving way to calm. The calm comes after the command: the force is silenced, and a great stillness follows.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that whatever is loudest must have the final word dissolves here: the storm is addressed, then it ceases.
THE ROOT
Σιώπα
Siōpa
GROWS FROM
σιωπ-
siōp-
Silence; to be quiet.
“Be silent” in this verse is Siōpa. The KJV’s “Peace” is a command to become silent. The Greek verb is followed by another command, so the calm is preceded by the sea being told to hush.
ALSO GROWS
siōpaō: To be silent, keep quiet.
σιωπάω
This is the verb behind the command to the sea: silence is something directly addressed, not merely a feeling described.
siōpē: Silence, quiet.
σιωπή
The related noun names the quiet that the command calls forth.
πεφίμωσο
pephimōso
GROWS FROM
φιμ-
phim-
A muzzle; putting a muzzle on, silencing.
“be muzzled” in this verse is pephimōso. The phrase “be still” carries the concrete image of being muzzled. English presents calm language, while the Greek command speaks of stopping the sea’s voice; the great calm follows that silencing.
ALSO GROWS
phimos: A muzzle.
φιμός
The noun makes the image beneath “be still” concrete: the command is to have the sea’s force and voice restrained.
phimoō: To muzzle, silence.
φιμόω
This verb is used elsewhere for muzzling an ox and for silencing a speaker, linking the sea’s command to the act of shutting a mouth.
THE PATTERN
A force that overwhelms is answered by a word that sets its limit, and quiet follows.
And said, This far shall you come, but no further, and here shall your swelling waves be held?He makes the storm stand in stillness, and its waves are hushed.And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be muzzled, and come out of him."THE THREAD
And Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be muzzled, and come out of him."The Greek verb φιμόω (phimoō, “to muzzle or silence”) appears again in Mark 1:25, where the KJV renders Jesus’ command to an unclean spirit as “Hold thy peace.” Here the KJV renders that same silencing language as “be still,” joining a storm and a spirit under one word-root.
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