What Does Matthew 15:34 Mean?
And Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have? And they said, Seven, and a few little fish.
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 Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.THE KEY
The Greek names the fish as both few (ὀλίγα, oliga) and little (ἰχθύδια, ichthydia), doubling the smallness before the meal unfolds.
THE MEANING
Your available measure can be named plainly without becoming the whole measure of what can unfold. The verse holds the question open at the exact point where lack is real and its outcome is not yet visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
An honest count of what is missing does not prove that the outcome is already settled.
THE ROOT
ὀλίγα
oliga
GROWS FROM
ὀλιγ-
Small, few, or little in number or degree.
The verse sets this quantity word beside the diminutive noun analyzed below: there are few fish, and each is named as little. The same stem appears in a word for “of little faith”; here it measures the available food, leaving the scarcity plain and specific.
ALSO GROWS
oligos: Little, few
ὀλίγος
This is the adjective’s base form; the verse uses its neuter plural form, ὀλίγα (oliga), for the few loaves or fish.
oligopistos: Of little faith
ὀλιγόπιστος
This compound shares the ὀλιγ- (olig-) stem and applies smallness to degree rather than quantity, as in Matthew 6:30.
ἰχθύδια
ichthydia
GROWS FROM
ἰχθυ-
Fish; the diminutive suffix -ίδιον (-idion) means a small one.
The Greek form carries “little” inside the fish-word itself: ἰχθύδιον (ichthydion) means “little fish.” Joined to “few,” it makes the inventory small in both number and size.
ALSO GROWS
ichthys: Fish
ἰχθύς
This is the base noun behind the verse’s diminutive form.
ichthydion: Little fish
ἰχθύδιον
This form adds the diminutive suffix to the same fish-word stem, making the small size explicit.
THE PATTERN
The available amount is named plainly, then carried into a provision that exceeds its apparent measure.
And his attendant said, How shall I place this before a hundred men? He said again, Give to the people, that they may eat. For thus says the LORD, They shall eat, and some shall remain.There is a lad here, who has five barley loaves, and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?And they all ate and were filled, and they took up the overflow of the broken pieces, seven baskets full.THE THREAD
And they had a few small fish, and he spoke well over them, and commanded that these also be set before the multitude.Mark uses the same Greek pair, ὀλίγα ἰχθύδια (oliga ichthydia, few little fish), to name the available amount. The repeated wording makes the double smallness part of the pattern: scarcity is spoken plainly before the meal that follows.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us