What Does Matthew 14:23 Mean?
And when he had sent the crowds away, he went climbing up into the mountain privately to pray; and when evening came, he was there alone.
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 when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.THE KEY
Solitude begins with release: the crowd is let go before he is alone in prayer.
THE MEANING
The crowd is released, and he is alone in prayer. Solitude here is not mere absence of people; it is a space occupied by address to God. The verse lets aloneness and communion coexist in the present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being alone means being abandoned or cut off from relationship.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύσας
apolysas
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
to loosen, untie, or release
“sent the multitudes away” in this verse is apolysas. The verb translated “sent away” is apolyo, built on lyō, “loosen” or “release.” Its word family also includes lytron, “ransom,” the means of release; the scene places letting the crowd go just before his solitude.
ALSO GROWS
lysis: loosening, release
λύσις
This noun keeps the sense of release visible in the same word family as the verb for sending the crowd away.
lytron: ransom, the price paid for release
λύτρον
The family reaches from letting someone go to the ransom that secures release, adding depth to the verse’s quiet act of dismissal.
προσεύξασθαι
proseuxasthai
GROWS FROM
εὔχομαι
euchomai
to pray, vow, or express a wish
“to pray” in this verse is proseuxasthai. The verb for prayer belongs to a word family that also names a vow. Prayer in this scene is not simply silence after the crowd leaves; it is directed address.
ALSO GROWS
euchē: prayer or vow
εὐχή
The shared word family holds prayer and vow together, giving prayer the shade of personal address and commitment.
proseuchē: prayer
προσευχή
This related noun names the practice enacted by the verb in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Prayer is given set-apart time or space as ordinary activity recedes.
You hear my voice at morning, LORD; at morning I lay out my prayer before you, and keep watch from the height.And in the morning, while it was still dark, rising long before day, he went out and went away to an empty place, and there he prayed.But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the hidden. And your Father, who sees in the hidden, will give it back to you in the open.THE THREAD
And in the morning, while it was still dark, rising long before day, he went out and went away to an empty place, and there he prayed.Matthew and Mark use forms of the same Greek verb, proseuchomai, meaning “to pray.” Mark places prayer in a solitary place before daybreak; Matthew places it on a mountain after the crowd is released.
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