What Does Matthew 20:25 Mean?
But Jesus called them to him, and said, You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and the great ones press authority down upon them.
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 Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.THE KEY
The Greek word rendered “exercise dominion” pictures rule as taking the posture of a lord over other people.
THE MEANING
You can recognize a familiar pattern of power in which rank becomes permission to press others down. The verse names that pattern plainly: those called great exercise lordship and authority over people.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that controlling others proves someone is great.
THE ROOT
κατακυριεύουσιν
katakyrieuousin
GROWS FROM
κυρι-
lord or master; to act as a lord over
“lord it over” in this verse is katakyrieuousin. The verb carries the sense of lording it over someone: authority becomes a posture that bears down on others. English “exercise dominion” can sound abstract, while the Greek keeps the lordship in view.
ALSO GROWS
kýrios: lord, master
κύριος
This noun makes explicit the lordship contained in the verb Matthew uses.
kyrieúō: rule, exercise lordship
κυριεύω
This is the verb base within Matthew’s compounded form.
kyriótēs: lordship, dominion
κυριότης
This related noun preserves the same family’s focus on holding lordship.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yeshua
GROWS FROM
ישע
deliver, rescue; bring out from constriction
“Jesus” in this verse is Yeshua. The Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs) carries the Hebrew name Yeshua, from יָשַׁע (yāšaʿ), “to deliver.” Its name-nature points toward release from narrowness, a striking counterpoint to rule that presses down on people.
ALSO GROWS
yāšaʿ: deliver, rescue
יָשַׁע
This verb is the root behind Yeshua’s name and gives it the nature of deliverance.
yešūʿāh: deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun makes the root’s action into the experience of being brought out.
mōšîaʿ: deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This agent noun names the one who carries out the root’s work of rescue.
THE PATTERN
When greatness rests on rank, authority takes shape as rule over other people.
And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons, and set them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.All this I see, and I give my heart to every work done under the sun. There is a time when one human has power over another to his harm.Nor as those pressing down upon the portions, but becoming imprints for the flock.THE THREAD
Nor as those pressing down upon the portions, but becoming imprints for the flock.The verb behind “being lords over” belongs to the same κυρι- family as Matthew’s “exercise dominion.” Matthew names how authority bears down on people; Peter uses that same language to mark domination as a misuse of stewardship.
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