What Does Matthew 22:44 Mean?
The LORD says to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I set your enemies as a footstool for your feet.
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
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?THE KEY
The Greek verb behind “make” means to set in place, so the enemies are pictured as taking a position beneath the enthroned one’s feet.
THE MEANING
The verse holds authority and visible opposition in the same frame. The Lord is seated at the right hand while the enemies are placed beneath his feet, so their presence does not occupy the throne. Its “till” keeps this ordering in view as something coming into place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that opposition must vanish before authority can be real: the enemies remain named, yet the image gives them a place beneath the ruler’s feet.
THE ROOT
θῶ
thō
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
To put, set, or place.
θῶ (thō, “I set/place”) is a form of τίθημι (tithēmi, “to put or set”). The action is one of placement: the enemies are set beneath the feet, while the one addressed occupies the seat of rule.
ALSO GROWS
tithēmi: To put, set, or place.
τίθημι
This is the verb’s basic action, making the enemies’ position central to the image.
thésis: A setting, placement, or position.
θέσις
This related form makes visible the idea of something being given a particular place.
thetós: Set, appointed, or placed.
θετός
This related form carries the sense of a position assigned or established.
ὑποπόδιον
hypopódion
GROWS FROM
ποδ-
pod-
Foot; the Greek stem ποδ- appears in forms of the word for foot.
“as a footstool for your feet” in this verse is hypopódion. The noun combines ὑπό (hypó, “under”) with ποδ- (pod-, “foot”). Its image makes the footstool a position beneath the feet, completing the verb’s picture of placing opposition below the ruler.
ALSO GROWS
poús: Foot; the second form is the genitive, “of the foot.”
πούς, ποδός
The verse locates the enemies beneath the feet, not beside the throne.
hypopódion: Footstool; something placed beneath the feet.
ὑποπόδιον
The word gives the enemies a concrete place in the image: below the seated ruler.
ἐχθρούς
echthroús
GROWS FROM
ἐχθρ-
echthr-
Hostile or hated; the root also names enmity.
The Greek calls them ἐχθρούς (echthroús, “enemies” or “hostile ones”); ἔχθρα (échthra, “enmity”) names the hostility itself. The verse keeps that hostility in view while placing it beneath the ruler’s feet.
ALSO GROWS
échthra: Enmity or hostility.
ἔχθρα
This names the hostile relation that the verse depicts as subordinate.
echthrós: Enemy or hostile one.
ἐχθρός
This is the singular form of the word used for the enemies being placed beneath the feet.
THE PATTERN
Rule is pictured as the placing of opposition beneath the ruler’s feet.
You make him rule over the works of your hands; you place all things under his feet.For he must govern until he sets all his enemies under his feet.And he set all things under his feet, and gave him as head over all things to the assembly.THE THREAD
You make him rule over the works of your hands; you place all things under his feet.The Hebrew behind the line Matthew quotes uses שִׁית (shith, “set/place”) for “make”; Psalm 8:6 uses a form of that same root for “put” all things beneath the feet. The shared root reveals the footstool image as an act of placing opposition under rule.
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