What Does Matthew 15:14 Mean?
Let them go. They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.
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
Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.THE KEY
“Let them alone” uses the same release-family as forgiveness, while the image that follows shows that release does not make a blind path safe.
THE MEANING
When the one guiding you cannot see the way, following does not give either of you sight; both share the fall. “Let them alone” is a release, while the consequence of their blindness remains visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that a confident guide can make an unseen direction safe, or that following authority guarantees a safe destination.
THE ROOT
ἄφετε
aphete
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To leave, let go, or release; the same verb can also mean remit or forgive.
“Let them go” in this verse is aphete. Ἄφετε is a form of ἀφίημι, whose range includes leaving, letting go, and remitting; its related noun ἄφεσις names release or remission. “Let them alone” therefore carries the texture of release, beside a consequence that release does not erase.
ALSO GROWS
aphes: Leave, release, or forgive.
ἄφες
This form of the same verb appears in the prayer for forgiveness of debts, linking release with letting go of what is owed.
aphesis: Release, remission, or forgiveness.
ἄφεσις
This related noun makes the release carried by “let them alone” visible in the same word-family used for forgiveness.
ὁδηγῇ
hodēgē
GROWS FROM
ὁδηγ-
hodēg-
To guide or lead along a way.
“guides” in this verse is hodēgē. The Greek verb carries the sense of guiding along a way: guidance does not stop at authority or advice but takes someone along a route. Here the guide’s blindness determines the danger of that route, and following does not change where it ends.
ALSO GROWS
hodos: Way, road, or path.
ὁδός
This is the way-word contained in the image of guidance: the guide is leading someone along a path.
hodēgos: Guide or leader.
ὁδηγός
The related noun names the one conducting another along the way, making the guide’s own lack of sight central to the shared fall.
THE PATTERN
When a guide cannot perceive the way, following carries others into the same danger.
For the straighteners of this people make them wander, and those led by them are swallowed up.The way of the restless is like darkness; they do not perceive what they stumble over.And he spoke a parable to them. Can the blind lead the blind along the way? Will they not both fall into the pit?THE THREAD
And release our debts, as we also release our debtors.The “let” in this verse and “forgive” in the prayer for debts come from the same verb, ἀφίημι (aphiēmi): to leave, release, or remit. That shared root connects leaving the blind to their course with releasing what is owed; the release itself does not make the path safe.
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