What Does Matthew 14:12 Mean?
And his disciples came near, lifted up the body, buried it, and went and carried word back to Jesus.
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 his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.THE KEY
Grief moves from care for the body to a message carried into Jesus’ presence.
THE MEANING
Loss is met in its physical reality: the body is carried and buried, and the news is spoken to Jesus. Care for the body and honest speech belong together in grief.
THE ROOT
ἀπήγγειλαν
apēngeilan
GROWS FROM
ἀγγέλλω
angellō
announce, report, carry a message
The verb translated “told” comes from ἀπαγγέλλω, to report or announce, built on ἀγγέλλω, to carry a message. The disciples’ final act is messenger work: they carry the news of death into Jesus’ presence.
ALSO GROWS
angelos: messenger
ἄγγελος
The related word makes visible the messenger role inside the act of reporting.
angelia: message, report
ἀγγελία
The report is the message carried from the disciples to Jesus.
euangelion: good news
εὐαγγέλιον
This word shares the message-bearing root, showing that the root itself names the carrying of news; its meaning here is determined by the death being reported.
THE PATTERN
Grief is carried through concrete care and brought into speech.
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, which is Hebron in the land of Canaan.And reverent men carried Stephen to his burial, and beat their breasts over him in great mourning.Then when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.THE THREAD
While they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and brought word to the chief priests of all the things that had happened.The word translated “shewed” comes from the same root, ἀγγέλλω (angellō), as “told” here. Both verses show news being carried to someone; the response of the one who receives it shapes what follows.
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