What Does Matthew 17:13 Mean?
Then the disciples put it together, that he had spoken to them of John the Immerser.
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
Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.THE KEY
Understanding is the moment separate words find their referent: what Jesus says resolves into John.
THE MEANING
The saying comes into focus as Jesus’ words about Elijah connect with John the Baptist. Here, understanding happens as the pieces come together; nothing new needs to be added.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that understanding is only hearing words: meaning becomes clear when the words and what they point to are joined.
THE ROOT
συνῆκαν
synēkan
GROWS FROM
συνίημι (sýn + hiēmi)
To bring together; συνίημι means to understand or perceive by putting things together.
“put it together” in this verse is synēkan. The Greek verb carries a sense of joining pieces, not merely receiving information. The disciples connect Jesus’ words with John, and the meaning becomes visible in that connection.
ALSO GROWS
synesis: understanding, insight
σύνεσις
This related noun names the joined perception the disciples reach when they recognize John as the one Jesus means.
synetos: discerning, intelligent
συνετός
This related adjective describes perception that sees how the pieces fit, as the disciples do here.
THE PATTERN
Understanding arrives when words are connected to the pattern or person they point to.
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned from the scrolls the count of the years, of which the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, to fill up seventy years in the dry places of Jerusalem.Jesus says to them, Have you put all these things together? They say to him, Yes, Lord.Then he threw open their minds, so that they might put the writings together.THE THREAD
Jesus says to them, Have you put all these things together? They say to him, Yes, Lord.Matthew 17:13 uses συνίημι (syniēmi), “to bring together; understand,” the same verb used here. In both verses, understanding is recognition that the words and what they point to belong together.
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