What Does Matthew 20:29 Mean?
And as they went out from Jericho, a great crowd followed him.
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
And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.THE KEY
The crowd’s following evokes companions on a road: Jesus’ departure becomes a way others enter.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you at the moment of leaving: Jesus is moving out, and many move with him. Their following is shared movement, not mere attention fixed on him. Departure and accompaniment appear together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The idea that following is only a private feeling gives way here: the verb describes people moving with him.
THE ROOT
ἠκολούθησεν
ēkolouthēsen
GROWS FROM
ἀκόλουθ- (akolouth-), from ἀκόλουθος (akolouthos); traditionally linked to κέλευθος (keleuthos)
Follower or companion; traditionally understood as one on the same road, with κέλευθος (keleuthos) meaning “road” or “way.”
“followed” in this verse is ēkolouthēsen. The Greek verb names following as accompanying movement. Its traditional road association gives the scene extra depth: the crowd does not simply watch Jesus leave; it joins his way.
ALSO GROWS
akolouthos: Companion, follower
ἀκόλουθος
It presents a follower as someone accompanying another, not merely looking toward them.
akolouthia: Following, attendance; a sequence or procession
ἀκολουθία
The word can describe people or events proceeding together, echoing the crowd moving after Jesus.
THE PATTERN
A way is disclosed through movement: guidance gives a path, and hearing the guide becomes following.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.And he said to them all, If anyone wants to come after me, let them say no to themselves, and lift up their cross day by day, and follow me.THE THREAD
So Jesus was moved in his inward parts for them, and touched their eyes, and straightway their eyes looked up again, and they followed him.The same verb for “followed” returns after the blind men receive sight. Here a multitude moves with Jesus; there, the men who had been sitting beside the road join that movement.
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