What Does Matthew 14:32 Mean?
And when they had stepped into the boat, the wind grew weary.
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 they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.THE KEY
The wind does not merely disappear: the Greek says it abates as they enter the boat.
THE MEANING
The verse holds entry into the boat and the wind’s abating in one movement. The force around a crossing can be real without owning its outcome. Stillness arrives within the scene, not outside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The storm does not have the final word over the crossing.
THE ROOT
ἐκόπασεν
ekopasen
GROWS FROM
κοπάζω (kopazō), from κόπος (kopos)
To grow weary; to slacken, abate, or cease.
“grew weary” in this verse is ekopasen. “Ceased” can sound like a switch from motion to nothing, but κοπάζω carries the shade of slackening or abating. Its word family also holds toil and weariness, making the wind’s force feel as though it is giving way as they enter the boat.
ALSO GROWS
kopos: Toil, labor, weariness
κόπος
This related word gives the wind’s abating a sense of force spent or slackened.
kopiaō: To toil, grow weary
κοπιάω
The same word family links the stilling of the wind with the easing of exertion.
THE PATTERN
The force raging over a crossing can recede, and its power does not determine the crossing’s final state.
He makes the storm stand in stillness, and its waves are hushed.So they lifted Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stood still from its raging.And waking, he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Be silent. Be muzzled. And the wind wore itself out, and a great calm came.THE THREAD
And waking, he rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Be silent. Be muzzled. And the wind wore itself out, and a great calm came.Mark uses the same verb, κοπάζω (kopazō), meaning “abate” or “cease.” Here it follows Jesus’ rebuke; in Matthew it follows their entering the boat, linking command and presence with the wind giving way.
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