What Does Matthew 18:16 Mean?
But if he does not hear you, take along with you one or two more, so that upon the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.
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
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.THE KEY
The verse makes a disputed word stand through more than one mouth bearing witness to it.
THE MEANING
When someone will not hear you, the matter does not stay enclosed between one speaker and one listener. Two or three witnesses widen the hearing, so the words can stand in a shared account rather than rest on a single voice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that one person’s account, however certain, is enough to settle a disputed matter.
THE ROOT
σταθῇ
stathē
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι
histēmi
to stand, set in place, or establish
“may stand” in this verse is stathē. The Greek says the matter may “stand.” The image is not merely that a claim is declared true, but that it can hold its place through the testimony of several mouths.
ALSO GROWS
anastasis: rising, standing up again
ἀνάστασις
This word for resurrection shares the idea of standing; here, a matter stands through testimony.
stasis: a standing, position, or state
στάσις
A claim takes a position that can be held up before others, rather than resting on one person’s word.
μάρτυρες
martyres
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
witness, testify
The witnesses are people who give testimony, not abstract proof. The verse places the matter’s standing in what can be borne witness to by more than one person.
ALSO GROWS
martyreō: to bear witness, testify
μαρτυρέω
The witnesses are defined by the act of testifying to the matter.
martyria: testimony, witness
μαρτυρία
This branch names the testimony through which the matter is brought into shared view.
ἀκούσῃ
akousē
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
to hear, listen
“hear” in this verse is akousē. The passage begins with a failure of hearing, then brings in other voices. The shared testimony widens the hearing around a matter that one person has refused to receive.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: hearing, report
ἀκοή
The verse’s concern with hearing extends to what is heard and reported by others.
hypakouō: to heed, obey
ὑπακούω
This related word carries listening toward response, illuminating the difference between merely hearing words and receiving them.
THE PATTERN
A disputed claim gains standing through multiple witnesses rather than resting on a lone voice.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any crookedness, or for any falling short, in it he misses the mark; upon the mouth of two witnesses, or upon the mouth of three witnesses, the word shall stand.And in your instruction it stands written, that the witness of two people is true.Do not take up an accusation against an elder, unless it rests upon two or three witnesses.THE THREAD
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any crookedness, or for any falling short, in it he misses the mark; upon the mouth of two witnesses, or upon the mouth of three witnesses, the word shall stand.Matthew repeats Deuteronomy’s image of a matter standing at the mouth of two or three witnesses. The shared Greek wording for “stand” and “word” reveals the same structure: a disputed matter gains standing through multiple testimonies.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us