What Does Matthew 13:2 Mean?
And great crowds were gathered together to him, so that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the shore.
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 great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.THE KEY
The crowd is not merely large: it is being brought together, while the boat creates the distance that lets one voice reach many.
THE MEANING
A crowd gathers around what is being spoken, and the teacher makes room between himself and the shore so the whole assembly can attend. One sits, many stand, and a shared scene of listening takes shape.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This loosens the belief that meaningful encounter requires private access or physical closeness: the whole multitude remains on the shore, yet is gathered around him.
THE ROOT
συνήχθησαν
synēchthēsan
GROWS FROM
ἀγ- (from ἄγω, agō)
Lead or bring; with συν- (syn, together), συνάγω (synagō) means to bring together.
“were gathered together” in this verse is synēchthēsan. The Greek word holds both motion and togetherness: the multitude is brought into one shared scene. English gives us a crowd, but the root reveals people being drawn together around a common point of attention.
ALSO GROWS
synagōgē: assembly, gathering
συναγωγή
The same compound names a gathered assembly, showing how being brought together forms a shared place of meeting.
agōgē: leading, conduct
ἀγωγή
This branch preserves the root’s sense of being led or brought, clarifying the movement inside “gathered together.”
THE PATTERN
A gathering becomes an assembly when many people share a point of hearing.
Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little ones, and the sojourner within your gates, so that they may hear and respond, and so that they may learn, and be struck with awe of the LORD your God, and guard to do all the words of this instruction;And he called aloud from it before the wide place that was before the gate of the waters, from first light until the middle of the day, facing the men and the women, and those who could tell the difference, and the ears of all the people were turned toward the book of the instruction.On the next sabbath nearly the whole city came together to hear the word of God.THE THREAD
On the next sabbath nearly the whole city came together to hear the word of God.“Came together” translates συναχθῆναι (synachthēnai), from the same συνάγω (synagō), “bring together,” as Matthew’s “were gathered together.” Matthew shows the gathered multitude given a place to hear; Acts shows a city drawn together for the same shared attention.
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