What Does Mark 7:31 Mean?
And again, leaving the boundaries of Tyre, he came through Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the boundaries of Decapolis.
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 again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis.THE KEY
The Greek word translated “coasts” means borders or districts, so the route moves through marked territories rather than simply along a shoreline.
THE MEANING
The route moves from Tyre and Sidon through the Decapolis toward the Sea of Galilee. It speaks now of boundaries as places a journey can pass through, rather than final limits on where encounter can reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a familiar boundary marks the farthest place encounter can reach: the route continues through other named regions.
THE ROOT
ὁρίων
horíōn
GROWS FROM
ὅρος
horos
Boundary, limit; by extension, a bordered territory or district.
“boundaries” in this verse is horíōn. The word translated “coasts” can name a border or district, not only a shoreline. Its word family includes marking out and setting apart, so the sentence keeps the idea of defined territory in view even as the route passes through it.
ALSO GROWS
horizō: To mark out, determine.
ὁρίζω
This branch makes explicit the act of setting a boundary; the verse’s regions are named, marked places along the route.
aphorizō: To separate, set apart.
ἀφορίζω
This branch shows how a boundary distinguishes one space or group from another, while the verse describes movement across such defined regions.
THE PATTERN
Boundaries name regions and separations, but they do not have to end the movement of encounter.
From there he rose and went away to the boundaries of Tyre and Sidon. And entering a house, he wanted no one to know it, but he could not be hidden.And he said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to cling to, or come near, one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.THE THREAD
From there he rose and went away to the boundaries of Tyre and Sidon. And entering a house, he wanted no one to know it, but he could not be hidden.The Greek word translated “borders” here is the same word family as “coasts” in Mark 7:31. The earlier verse places the movement within a named territory; this verse carries the route onward through more regions.
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