What Does Matthew 13:17 Mean?
Truly, I say to you, that many prophets and aligned men have longed to perceive what you look upon, and have not perceived it; and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it.
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
For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.THE KEY
What you perceive here is measured by the longing it awakens: the sight and hearing named in this verse are access many desire but do not grasp.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as one who sees and hears what many long to perceive but do not reach. These words point beyond sound and eyesight to apprehension: being near a saying is different from receiving what it shows. The verse lets the present moment carry the weight of that access.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that familiar words are therefore ordinary dissolves here: what you can perceive may be precisely what many long for and still cannot grasp.
THE ROOT
ἐπεθύμησαν
epethymēsan
GROWS FROM
θυμ
thym
Desire, passion, inward impulse.
The verb carries an inward pull toward what is not yet possessed: these prophets and righteous ones long for the sight you are being told is present. The sentence frames revelation as something deeply desired, not made trivial by familiarity.
ALSO GROWS
epithymia: Desire, longing.
ἐπιθυμία
It names longing set toward an object, making their desire a directed yearning rather than passing curiosity.
epithymētēs: One who desires.
ἐπιθυμητής
The person is named by the same longing, underscoring how strongly the verse frames the wish to see.
ἰδεῖν
idein
GROWS FROM
ἰδ
id
See, perceive, recognize.
The Greek form translated “see” can carry the sense of perceiving or recognizing, so the verse points beyond eyesight. Related words for form and appearance show how seeing makes something present to awareness.
ALSO GROWS
eidos: Form, appearance.
εἶδος
This branch names what is seen as it takes shape in perception.
idea: Form, appearance, conception.
ἰδέα
It carries the seeing-root into what is grasped or conceived, bringing the verse’s sight close to understanding.
ἀκοῦσαι
akousai
GROWS FROM
ἀκου
akou
Hear, listen, receive by hearing.
“hear” in this verse is akousai. Hearing is the reception of what is voiced and can also name the report itself, so the word carries both the message and its arrival to you. Here, seeing and hearing name perception from two sides.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing, report, message heard.
ἀκοή
The same root names both the act of hearing and what reaches the hearer as a report.
akoustos: Heard, audible.
ἀκουστός
This branch describes what can be heard, connecting the verse’s hearing to a message that becomes perceptible.
THE PATTERN
Revelation can be longed for while its meaning remains unseen and unheard.
And he said, Go, and say to this people, Hear and hear again, but do not discern; see and see again, but do not perceive.For I say to you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.It was unveiled to them that they served not themselves but you in these things, which are now announced to you by those who brought you good news by the Set-Apart Breath sent down from the heavens, things into which the messengers long to stoop and look.THE THREAD
It was unveiled to them that they served not themselves but you in these things, which are now announced to you by those who brought you good news by the Set-Apart Breath sent down from the heavens, things into which the messengers long to stoop and look.The KJV’s “desired” here and “desire” in Peter translate the same Greek verb: the prophets in this verse and the angels there both long for the sight. That shared root makes perception the precious thing in the sentence, not mere access to a report.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us