What Does Matthew 21:43 Mean?
Therefore I say to you, the governance of God will be lifted from you, and given to a nation making its fruits.
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
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.THE KEY
God’s governance follows the fruit a people produces, so its stewardship can change hands.
THE MEANING
God’s governance moves from one people to another whose shared life produces its fruit. The verse makes that yield the mark of the receiving community. The transfer speaks now: stewardship is not secured by a title alone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having a claim to God’s governance guarantees that it will remain with us regardless of the fruit our life produces.
THE ROOT
ποιοῦντι
poiounti
GROWS FROM
ποιέω
poiéō
to do, make, or produce
“making its fruits” in this verse is poiounti. The receiving people are described by what they produce, not by a title. The present participle portrays a people characterized by bringing forth its yield.
ALSO GROWS
poiētēs: doer, maker
ποιητής
The same word family can name a person by what that person does, echoing how this people is identified by its production.
poiēma: a thing made, workmanship
ποίημα
The family links producing with its visible result: what is made can be seen.
καρπούς
karpous
GROWS FROM
καρπός
karpos
fruit, produce, yield
“fruits” in this verse is karpous. The word names what a life or community yields. Its word family can describe both bearing fruit and being unfruitful, making the community’s output the visible measure in this verse.
ALSO GROWS
karpophoreō: to bear fruit
καρποφορέω
This related verb makes explicit that fruit is something produced, not merely possessed.
akarpos: unfruitful, barren
ἄκαρπος
The contrasting branch shows that fruitfulness is recognizable by whether anything is yielded.
δοθήσεται
dothēsetai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
to give, grant, or put into another’s possession
The verb says the governance is given to a new recipient; its work continues even as stewardship changes hands. The word family also carries senses of handing over and sharing.
ALSO GROWS
paradidōmi: to hand over, deliver
παραδίδωμι
This compound keeps the movement from one holder to another in view.
metadidōmi: to share, impart
μεταδίδωμι
This branch shows giving as something passed on to another, fitting the verse’s transfer of stewardship.
THE PATTERN
Fruit is the visible measure of whether a life or community is fulfilling its entrusted purpose.
And he becomes like a tree planted by the channels of the waters, that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; whatever he does, he breaks through.You did not pick me out, but I picked you out and set you, that you may go and bear fruit, and that your fruit may remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my nature, he may give you.And if it makes fruit, well; but if not, in the coming time you will cut it down.THE THREAD
They said to him, He will make those evil men perish badly, and will let the vineyard out to others who work the soil, who will give him back the fruits in their seasons.Both verses use καρπός (karpos, “fruit”) for the vineyard’s yield. This verse shows the stewardship changing hands; the next verse names the people who receive it by the fruit they bring forth.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us