What Does Matthew 20:34 Mean?
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.
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
So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.THE KEY
The miracle begins before sight returns: compassion moves from the inward parts into touch.
THE MEANING
Compassion meets you where vision has failed; it does not stand at a distance but reaches your eyes. Sight is received, and newly seeing eyes turn toward a path of following.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that you must first find your way before help can reach you: compassion comes close while you are still unable to see.
THE ROOT
σπλαγχνισθείς
splagchnistheis
GROWS FROM
σπλάγχνον (splagchnon), stem σπλαγχν-
Inner parts, entrails; the body’s inward center.
“was moved in his inward parts” in this verse is splagchnistheis. The Greek verb for compassion grows from the body’s inward parts, so compassion is a stirring felt deep within. Here that inward movement is followed by touch at their eyes: compassion becomes approach.
ALSO GROWS
splagchnon: Inner parts, entrails
σπλάγχνον
The noun names the bodily inward center from which the verb for compassion grows.
eusplagchnos: Tenderhearted, compassionate
εὔσπλαγχνος
The same inward-parts seed describes a tenderhearted person, linking compassion with felt tenderness toward another.
ἀνέβλεψαν
aneblepsan
GROWS FROM
βλέπω
blepō
To see, to look.
“received sight” in this verse is aneblepsan. The verb combines βλέπω, “to see,” with ἀνά, which can mean “up” or “again.” The phrase can carry the sense of looking up or seeing again: sight is received as restored perception, and the next movement is following.
ALSO GROWS
blepō: To see, to look
βλέπω
This is the base verb inside the word translated “received sight.”
anablepsis: Recovery of sight
ἀνάβλεψις
This related noun uses the same “up/again + see” form and names the restoration that the verb expresses here.
THE PATTERN
Sight opens as a gift, revealing what was hidden and making a way forward visible.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of waters, and went and filled the skin with waters, and gave the boy drink.And Elisha prayed and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and look, the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.And he said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, the Sent. So he went and washed, and came seeing.THE THREAD
And Jesus, stirred in his inward parts, stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will. Be clean."Mark uses the same Greek compassion word as Matthew, and the inward stirring again becomes a hand reaching out. In Matthew, that touch meets the eyes; here, it meets the body with cleansing.
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