What Does Matthew 21:16 Mean?
And they said to him, Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes. Have you never read, Out of the mouth of infants and those at the breast you have fitted praise?
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 said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?THE KEY
What the room dismisses as childish praise is precisely the voice Jesus calls complete, and the psalm behind it calls strength.
THE MEANING
The praise others dismiss as childish is recognized here as complete. Even a small voice can speak what exposes the room’s resistance. The verse makes the source of praise matter less than the truth it carries.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Praise only has force when it comes from mature, credentialed voices.
THE ROOT
κατηρτίσω
katērtisō
GROWS FROM
καταρτ- (katart-), from ἄρτιος (artios)
To fit, restore, or equip; to bring into proper condition.
“fitted praise” in this verse is katērtisō. Here “perfected” describes praise brought into full shape, not polished performance. The same word family speaks of mending nets and equipping people, so the children’s praise is made whole and fit for its purpose.
ALSO GROWS
katartizō: Mend, restore, put in order
καταρτίζω
The verb describes mending nets; here, praise is brought into a fitting form.
katartismos: Equipping, preparation
καταρτισμός
The related word for equipping shows that completion can mean being made ready for a purpose.
katartisis: Restoration, putting in order
κατάρτισις
This branch makes the verse’s “perfected” praise sound like something restored to wholeness.
αἶνον
ainon
GROWS FROM
αἰν-
ain-
Praise or commendation.
The praise from the children’s mouths is an open acknowledgment, not background noise. In Psalm 8:2, the Hebrew line speaks of strength established from infants’ mouths; Matthew’s Greek wording names that utterance as praise, revealing its force against opposition.
ALSO GROWS
aineō: Praise
αἰνέω
The related verb names praise as an act of acknowledgment, as in voices praising God.
epainos: Praise, commendation
ἔπαινος
This related noun carries the sense of public recognition present in the children’s words.
THE PATTERN
Voices counted as small or weak can speak a truth that exposes opposition and confounds status.
From the mouth of little ones and nursing ones you lay a foundation of strength because of those who press you, to halt the enemy and the avenger.In that hour Jesus leapt for joy in the Set-Apart Breath, and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of the heavens and the earth, that you hid these things away from the wise and the discerning, and uncovered them to babes. Yes, Father, for so it pleased you before your face.But God picked out the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God picked out the weak things of the world to shame the strong.THE THREAD
From the mouth of little ones and nursing ones you lay a foundation of strength because of those who press you, to halt the enemy and the avenger.Psalm 8:2 gives the same image as strength established from infants’ mouths, while Matthew’s Greek wording calls it perfected praise. Together, the phrases reveal praise as the strength that quiets the adversary, not decoration on the scene.
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