What Does Matthew 21:40 Mean?
When therefore the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those who work the soil?
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
When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?THE KEY
The Greek calls them land-workers: working what is entrusted never makes the vineyard theirs to own.
THE MEANING
You are inside the owner’s question: what is entrusted to your hands remains under its source’s claim, and the return makes that claim present. The question asks you to name the consequence when workers treat stewardship as ownership.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that control through labor turns stewardship into ownership: the vineyard remains the lord’s, and his arrival demands an answer.
THE ROOT
γεωργοῖς
geōrgois
GROWS FROM
γεωργός (geōrgos), built from γῆ (gē, earth) + ἔργον (ergon, work)
Earth-worker; cultivator.
“those who work the soil” in this verse is geōrgois. The Greek names the tenants by their work on the land, not by ownership of it. Their labor does not transfer the vineyard or its fruit into their possession.
ALSO GROWS
geōrgia: Cultivation, farming
γεωργία
This related noun keeps the emphasis on land being worked, not owned.
geōrgeō: To cultivate, farm
γεωργέω
The verb makes cultivation an ongoing task; the harvest remains answerable to the vineyard’s owner.
κύριος
kyrios
GROWS FROM
κυρι-
kyri-
Lord, master; one with authority.
“master” in this verse is kyrios. The title carries the force of an owner whose authority continues while the land is in other hands. The question turns that continuing claim into a reckoning for the workers.
ALSO GROWS
kyrieuō: To rule, exercise lordship
κυριεύω
This verb makes the title active: the lord is the one whose authority governs the vineyard.
kyriotēs: Lordship, dominion
κυριότης
This noun names authority as a sphere of rule; the tenants’ work does not make them sovereign over the vineyard.
THE PATTERN
What is entrusted for cultivation remains answerable to its owner for its fruit.
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah the planting of his delight. He waited for judgment, but behold, spilled blood. He waited for alignment, but behold, a cry.But the one who did not know, and did what deserves blows, will be beaten with few blows. To everyone to whom much is given, much will be sought from him, and to whom much has been placed beside him, they will ask all the more of him.So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.THE THREAD
I am the true vine, and my Father is the one who works the soil.The same Greek word family names the vineyard workers here and the husbandman in Jesus’ saying about the vine. The shared word brings the distinction into view: the workers receive a task, while the Father is named as the cultivator.
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