What Does Matthew 16:27 Mean?
For the Son of Man will come in the weight of his Father, with his messengers, and then he will repay each one according to his deed.
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
For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.THE KEY
The Son of Man’s “reward” is a giving back: each person receives in correspondence with the life they enact.
THE MEANING
The Son of Man comes in the weight of his Father, with his messengers, and renders each person according to their own doing. The verse holds the reader now inside a direct correspondence between what is done and what comes back.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what you do simply vanishes: each person’s own doing remains bound to what they receive.
THE ROOT
ἀποδώσει
apodōsei
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
To give; with the prefix ἀπό, to give back or render.
“repay” in this verse is apodōsei. “Reward” translates ἀποδώσει (apodōsei, will give back or render), formed from δίδωμι (didōmi, to give) with ἀπό (apo, back or from). The wording carries the sense of a return fitted to each person’s own doing.
ALSO GROWS
apodidōmi: To give back, render, or repay.
ἀποδίδωμι
This compound uses the same giving root as the verse’s verb, making its sense of return explicit.
paradidōmi: To hand something over or entrust it.
παραδίδωμι
The same root describes giving something into another’s hands; here, what is given back corresponds to each person’s doing.
epididōmi: To give or hand something over.
ἐπιδίδωμι
This compound keeps the same basic act of giving, underscoring that the verse’s “reward” is something rendered to each person.
THE PATTERN
What each person does returns in a measure corresponding to their doing.
And yours, O Lord, is faithful love, for you repay each man according to his deed.Who will give back to each one according to his works.For we must all be made visible before the judgment step of the Anointed One, so that each one may carry home the things done through the body, according to what was done, whether good or worthless.THE THREAD
Who will give back to each one according to his works.Romans uses ἀποδώσει (apodōsei, will render or give back), the same Greek verb used here for “reward.” The shared root makes the link direct: each person’s return corresponds to that person’s own doing.
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