What Does Matthew 15:39 Mean?
And he let the crowd go, and stepped into the boat, and came to the borders of Magdala.
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 sent away the multitude, and took ship, and came into the coasts of Magdala.THE KEY
The crowd is released by the same verb that lets Simeon depart in peace, so dismissal here carries the shape of letting go.
THE MEANING
A gathering can reach completion in release, and the next movement can begin. Jesus sends the multitude away, takes ship, and comes to Magdala. For you now, an ending and continued movement can occupy the same moment.
THE ROOT
ἀπέλυσεν
apelysen
GROWS FROM
λύω (lyō), in ἀπολύω (apolyō)
λύω means to loosen or release; with ἀπό, it forms ἀπολύω, to release away or dismiss.
“let the crowd go” in this verse is apelysen. English “sent away” can sound like simple crowd management, while ἀπέλυσεν (apelysen, from ἀπολύω/apolyō) carries the sense of release or dismissal. The same verb family describes Simeon being let depart in peace in Luke 2:29.
ALSO GROWS
apolyō: Release, dismiss, let go.
ἀπολύω
This is the verb behind ἀπέλυσεν, describing the multitude as released from the gathering.
lysis: Loosening, release, dissolution.
λύσις
This noun keeps the image of loosening visible in the verb’s root: dismissal carries the sense of unbinding.
מגדלא
magdalā
GROWS FROM
גדל
g-d-l
Grow or become great; the Aramaic place-name form is associated with a tower.
The KJV place-name Magdala is commonly linked with Aramaic מגדלא (magdalā), “tower,” from the גדל (g-d-l) family meaning grow or become great. The destination carries the concrete name-image of a tower, while the verse leaves that image unexplained.
ALSO GROWS
migdal: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
This related Semitic form makes the tower-image in the place-name visible.
gādōl: Great, large.
גָּדוֹל
It shares the גדל root and shows the family’s sense of growth or greatness.
THE PATTERN
When a gathering’s moment is complete, release sends its people onward.
Straightway he pressed his disciples to step into the boat and go ahead of him to the far side, until he let the crowds go.Master, now you let your servant go in wholeness, according to your word.And when he had spoken thus, he let the assembly go.THE THREAD
Master, now you let your servant go in wholeness, according to your word.Matthew’s ἀπέλυσεν (apelysen, “released” or “dismissed”) belongs to the same verb family as Luke’s ἀπολύω (apolyō, “release”). Luke uses it for Simeon’s peaceful departure; here, it releases the multitude before Jesus takes ship.
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