What Does Matthew 14:16 Mean?
But Jesus said to them, They have no need to go away; give them to eat.
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 Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.THE KEY
The hungry do not need to be sent away; the people already present are told to give them food.
THE MEANING
The hunger in front of you does not require the people to leave. Jesus turns to those already there and makes giving their action: you give them food. Need and response remain in the same place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that hunger must be removed from view before it can be answered.
THE ROOT
δότε
dóte
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
Give, grant, impart, put into another’s possession.
“give them to eat” in this verse is dóte. δότε (dóte, “give”) is a direct command to the plural “you.” The emphatic ὑμεῖς (hymeis, “you yourselves”) places the action with the people Jesus addresses: the crowd’s hunger becomes a call to give within their presence.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: giving, gift
δόσις
The noun form keeps the focus on giving as an act, not merely on what the recipient lacks.
metadidōmi: share, impart
μεταδίδωμι
This compound shows giving as sharing what passes from one person to another.
ἀπελθεῖν
apelthein
GROWS FROM
ἀπέρχομαι (aperchomai; ἀπό [apo, away] + ἔρχομαι [erchomai, come/go])
Go away, depart; ἀπό marks movement away from a place or people.
“depart” in this verse is apelthein. The word for departing builds movement away into its form. Jesus blocks that direction and turns the moment toward giving, keeping those who need food present.
ALSO GROWS
erchomai: come, go
ἔρχομαι
This is the movement verb within ἀπέρχομαι; the prefix makes the direction specifically away.
parerchomai: pass by, pass away
παρέρχομαι
The same movement verb takes a different prefix to describe passing by, showing how the direction of movement shapes the action.
THE PATTERN
Need is met by provision passing to those who remain present.
And his attendant said, How shall I place this before a hundred men? He said again, Give to the people, that they may eat. For thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and some shall remain.You open your hand and fill every living thing with delight.And they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them among all, as each one had need.THE THREAD
Each one, as his heart has taken hold, so let him give, not from grief or from pressure, for God loves a glad giver.The command δότε (dóte, “give”) here and διδότω (didotō, “let him give”) in 2 Corinthians share the root δίδωμι (didōmi, “give”). That verse names the inward freedom of giving; here, the action meets an immediate need.
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