What Does Matthew 10:17 Mean?
But watch for humankind, for they will hand you over to the councils, and they will lash you in their synagogues.
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
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;THE KEY
The danger is not only the whip; it is being handed from one authority to another until violence becomes an institution’s procedure.
THE MEANING
This warning speaks now wherever human authority can transfer a person into public judgment and inflict bodily harm. It names the mechanism plainly: handover to councils, then scourging within synagogues. The whip remains physical even when the room is religious.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a religious setting is automatically safe is undone here: this verse names synagogues among the places where people can be scourged.
THE ROOT
παραδώσουσιν
paradōsousin
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι (didōmi), with παρά (para)
Give; with para, give over or hand across to another.
“hand you over” in this verse is paradōsousin. Παραδώσουσιν means “they will hand over” and is built from παρά (para, over or to another) and δίδωμι (didōmi, give). The seed is giving, while the prefix makes the giving a transfer into someone else’s hands.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: give, grant
δίδωμι
This is the seed verb inside “deliver you up”: the person is given into another’s custody.
paradosis: a handing on; a tradition
παράδοσις
This noun shares the handover family, showing how the same root can name something passed on or someone handed over.
metadidōmi: share, impart
μεταδίδωμι
This related verb makes the shared seed of giving visible, while Matthew’s prefix turns that giving into a transfer of custody.
μαστιγοῦσιν
mastigousin
GROWS FROM
μάστιξ (mastix), verbal stem μαστιγ- (mastig-)
Whip or lash; the related verb means to strike with a whip.
The verb μαστιγόω names the act of using a μάστιξ, a whip or lash. The punishment in this warning lands on the body: it is not an abstract consequence of judgment.
ALSO GROWS
mastix: whip, lash
μάστιξ
The noun gives the physical instrument contained in the verb’s image.
mastigoō: whip, scourge
μαστιγόω
This verb names the action the verse warns will be done to the body.
συναγωγαῖς
synagōgais
GROWS FROM
συνάγω (synagō), from συν (syn) + ἄγω (agō)
Bring together; gather together.
“synagogues” in this verse is synagōgais. Συναγωγή names a gathering and is related to συνάγω, “gather together.” The verse places the scourging inside a gathered institution, where communal space can also become a site of bodily punishment.
ALSO GROWS
agō: bring, lead
ἄγω
This verb supplies the “bringing” at the center of the gathering word.
synagō: gather together
συνάγω
The verb shows the shared root of the place named in the verse.
synagōgē: gathering, assembly, synagogue
συναγωγή
The word holds the sense of a gathered assembly within the name of the place where the scourging occurs.
THE PATTERN
Public authority can bring a witness under institutional control and answer the witness’s words by punishing the body.
Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and set him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.But watch yourselves, for they will hand you over to councils, and in the synagogues you will be beaten; and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a witness against them.And they were persuaded by him, and when they had called the sent ones to them and flayed them, they charged them not to speak in the nature of Jesus, and released them.THE THREAD
But when they hand you over, do not be pulled apart over how or what you will say, for what you will say will be given to you in that very hour.The same δίδωμι (didōmi, give) seed appears in παραδώσουσιν (paradōsousin, they will hand over) and δοθήσεται (dothēsetai, it will be given). Human authority hands the person over, while the verse says speech is given in that same hour.
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