What Does Matthew 17:17 Mean?
Then Jesus answered and said, O generation without trust and crooked, how long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.
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 Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.THE KEY
The verse holds exhaustion and welcome together: trust is twisted, yet the suffering child is still called near.
THE MEANING
You can be amid trust grown thin and a shared way turned aside. Jesus’ questions expose real strain, but that strain does not become withdrawal: the child is called directly to him. Frustration and care occupy the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that frustrated words always mean abandonment: Jesus voices strain and still calls the child to himself.
THE ROOT
διεστραμμένη
diestrammenē
GROWS FROM
στρέφω
strephō
to turn or twist
“crooked” in this verse is diestrammenē. The Greek adjective is a perfect passive form of διαστρέφω (diastrephō, turn aside or distort): the generation is described as already turned aside. The στρέφω (strephō, turn) family includes both turning away and turning back, so the word carries an image of direction beneath the English verdict.
ALSO GROWS
apostrephō: turn away or avert
ἀποστρέφω
It shares the στρέφω root and makes the movement away within “perverse” easier to see.
epistrephō: turn back or return
ἐπιστρέφω
It shares the same root, showing that the movement of turning can also be a return.
ἄπιστος
apistos
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
trust or reliance
“without trust” in this verse is apistos. The word combines a negating prefix with the root for trust, naming a lack of trust. In this Greek word family, trust is not mere agreement: it is reliance, the act of leaning your full weight on something.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: trust or reliance
πίστις
This noun shares the πιστ root and makes trust the living center of “faithless.”
pisteuō: trust or entrust oneself
πιστεύω
This verb shares the same root and presents trust as something enacted, not only held as an idea.
ἀνέξομαι
anexomai
GROWS FROM
ἔχω
echō
to hold or have
“bear with you” in this verse is anexomai. The verb translated “suffer” is ἀνέξομαι (anexomai, I will endure or bear with), built on ἔχω (echō, hold). Its root gives endurance the shape of continuing to hold one’s place with others; the next words make that presence concrete by calling the child near.
ALSO GROWS
antechō: withstand or hold out
ἀντέχω
It shares the ἔχω root and shows holding as remaining present under pressure.
katechō: hold fast or retain
κατέχω
It shares the same root and echoes the staying power carried by “suffer you.”
THE PATTERN
Fragile trust and acute need do not place a sufferer beyond the reach of direct care.
The LORD is near to those whose heart is broken, and delivers those crushed in breath.A crushed reed he will not break, and a dimming wick he will not snuff out. He will bring out judgment into truth.At once the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I lean my weight on you. Help where I cannot lean.THE THREAD
For you were as sheep wandering; but now you have turned back toward the Shepherd and Watcher of your living souls.The word translated “returned” is ἐπεστράφητε (epestraphēte, turned back), from the same στρέφω (strephō, turn) family as διεστραμμένη (diestrammenē, turned aside). Matthew names a turning away; Peter’s line names the same root movement turned back toward the Shepherd.
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