What Does Matthew 14:29 Mean?
And he said, Come. And Peter stepped down out of the boat and walked upon the waters, to come 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 he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.THE KEY
The Greek repeats the same verb in Jesus’ “Come” and Peter’s “to go,” making his crossing the enacted echo of the invitation.
THE MEANING
You meet a call that precedes the step: the Greek verb behind “Come” returns in the phrase translated “to go to Jesus,” so Peter’s movement carries the invitation within it. The ship, the water, and the destination remain distinct; the verse holds the crossing itself in view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a path must be secure before movement can begin: Peter steps from the ship onto water at the word “Come.”
THE ROOT
Ἐλθέ
elthé
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι (erchomai; stems ἐρχ- / ἐλθ-)
Come, go, arrive.
The command “Come” and the later “to go” are different forms of the same Greek verb. English changes the wording, while the Greek lets Peter’s movement repeat the invitation.
ALSO GROWS
erchou: Come.
ἔρχου
A present imperative form of the same verb, showing its direct force as a call.
elthé: Come.
ἐλθέ
This is the command used here; it shares its verb with the infinitive that follows.
eltheîn: To come, go, or arrive.
ἐλθεῖν
This infinitive appears in the phrase rendered “to go to Jesus,” repeating the command’s verb.
περιεπάτησεν
periepátēsen
GROWS FROM
πατέω (pateō), with περί (perí)
Tread, step, walk.
“walked upon the waters” in this verse is periepátēsen. The word translated “walked” is formed from the ordinary verb for treading or stepping. Peter’s movement is described as steps across the water, keeping the crossing bodily and immediate.
ALSO GROWS
pateō: Tread, step on.
πατέω
This is the base verb beneath “walked,” making the action a matter of placing steps.
katapatéō: Trample underfoot.
καταπατέω
This compound uses the same base verb for forceful treading, showing the root’s concrete sense of contact with a surface.
peripatéō: Walk, go about.
περιπατέω
This is the verb’s dictionary form; it can describe bodily walking or a person’s conduct.
THE PATTERN
A spoken call becomes tangible as someone crosses the boundary between where they stand and where they are called.
So Abram went, as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he went out of Haran.He said to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he stayed, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.THE THREAD
He said to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he stayed, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.In Greek, “Come” and “They came” are forms of the same verb, erchomai, as Jesus’ “Come” and Peter’s “to go” are in Matthew. In both verses, the invitation becomes visible as movement toward the one who speaks.
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