What Does Matthew 15:30 Mean?

And great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the mute, the crooked, and many others, and they threw them down at the feet of Jesus, and he healed them.

Matthew 15:30 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them:

THE KEY

The word “healed” also carries the sense of being attended to, so restoration begins here as direct care.

THE MEANING

Need is visible here: people bring those who cannot come alone, and Jesus meets them at his feet with healing. When you cannot make your own way toward help, the verse still places you within reach of care.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse unsettles the belief that you must reach help under your own power before you can be met.

THE ROOT

ἐθεράπευσεν

etherapeusen

GROWS FROM

θεραπευ

To attend to or care for; in this verse, to heal.

The Greek word translated “healed” belongs to a family that also speaks of attendance and care. The verse presents healing as people being tended, not merely as a condition changing.

ALSO GROWS

therapeia: Care, attendance, treatment, healing

θεραπεία

The same family can name the care itself, keeping healing joined to being attended to.

therapeutēs: Attendant, caregiver, healer

θεραπευτής

This word names one who tends or treats, preserving the sense of care within the healing family.

THE PATTERN

Visible need is brought into reach and met with care and restoration.

He mends the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3 · SDVHealing is pictured as binding wounds, an act of care that meets what is hurt.

Then the limping one leaps like a hart, and the tongue of the mute rings out. For waters split open in the wilderness, and streams in the desert plain.

Isaiah 35:6 · SDVThe limits named in Matthew give way here to movement, speech, and flowing water.

And they came to him, bringing a paralyzed man, lifted by four.

Mark 2:3 · SDVOthers carry a man toward Jesus when he cannot come on his own, just as people bring those in need in this verse.

THE THREAD

And he healed many who were sick with various sicknesses, and threw out many demons. He did not let the demons speak, because they knew him.

Mark 1:34 · SDV

Mark uses the same Greek verb, ⁨θεραπεύω⁩, for Jesus’ healing. That shared root keeps healing joined to attending care, opening this scene as people brought within reach and tended.

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