What Does Matthew 14:14 Mean?
And Jesus came out, perceived a great crowd, was stirred in his inner parts toward them, and healed their sick.
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 Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.THE KEY
Compassion here is an inward stirring that does not stop at feeling; it flows into care for the sick.
THE MEANING
When suffering comes into view now, compassion is more than recognition: it stirs inwardly and reaches toward the sick with care. The verse holds seeing, being moved, and healing in one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that compassion is only a feeling kept private; here, the inward stirring moves into care that restores.
THE ROOT
ἐσπλαγχνίσθη
esplagchnisthē
GROWS FROM
σπλαγχν-
splagchn- stem
Inward parts or organs; figuratively, the seat of deep affection.
“was stirred in his inner parts” in this verse is esplagchnisthē. The verb is built from the word for the inward organs, picturing compassion as something stirred deep inside. The same stem appears in words for the inward parts and for a tenderhearted person; here, that inner stirring moves into healing.
ALSO GROWS
splagchnon: Inward part; also used figuratively for deep affection.
σπλάγχνον
This related noun makes the inward source of the compassion explicit.
eusplagchnos: Tenderhearted, compassionate.
εὔσπλαγχνος
This related word describes a person by the same deep inward quality that moves Jesus toward the sick.
ἐθεράπευσεν
etherapeusen
GROWS FROM
θεραπευ-
therapeu- stem
To attend to or serve; also to treat or heal.
English “healed” can sound like an outcome detached from care. The Greek verb also carries the sense of attending to or serving, and a related noun can name an attendant; restoration appears here as care given to the sick.
ALSO GROWS
therapeia: Service, treatment, or healing.
θεραπεία
The related noun holds care and healing together, deepening the sense of what happens to the sick.
therapōn: Attendant, servant.
θεράπων
This related word for an attendant echoes the verb’s sense of care through attendance.
THE PATTERN
Compassion moves from inward concern into care that meets suffering.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those in awe of him.But seeing the crowds, his insides moved for them, because they were loosened and thrown down, like sheep having no shepherd.And Jesus, stirred in his inward parts, stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will. Be clean."THE THREAD
And Jesus, stirred in his inward parts, stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will. Be clean."Mark uses the same Greek word, σπλαγχνίζομαι (splagchnizomai, to be moved with compassion). There, the inward movement takes visible form as a hand reaching out and healing.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us