What Does Matthew 14:22 Mean?
Straightway he pressed his disciples to step into the boat and go ahead of him to the far side, until he let the crowds go.
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 straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.THE KEY
Jesus sets the scene in motion by compelling one group into the crossing while releasing the other.
THE MEANING
Movement begins in two directions at once: the disciples are pressed into a crossing, and the multitude is released. The far side is not yet in view; the next step begins through both compulsion and release.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύω
apolýō
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
to loosen, unbind, release
“let the crowds go” in this verse is apolýō. The verb translated “sent away” is apolýō (ἀπολύω), “release” or “let go”: the crowd is let go from the gathering. Its λύω (lyō) root also appears in words for release and ransom, so the phrase carries the sense of loosening people from where they are, not only moving them elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: to loosen, untie, release
λύω
This is the root beneath “sent away”: the crowd is released from the gathering.
lytron: ransom; a price paid for release
λύτρον
The same root links release with the price that frees someone, giving the dismissal a deeper texture of being let loose.
apolysis: release, dismissal
ἀπόλυσις
This related word keeps the verse’s central movement together: a gathering ends as people are released from it.
THE PATTERN
A scene moves forward when some are released and others are sent into what follows.
And I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in its midst, and after that he will let you go.And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they let them go.Then Jesus said to them again, Wholeness be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.THE THREAD
And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they let them go.The verb behind “sent them away” is the same release verb as here: apolýō (ἀπολύω), “release” or “let go.” The shared word makes both scenes hinge on release: the crowd is let go from Jesus, while Barnabas and Saul are let go from the assembly toward their next work.
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