What Does Matthew 24:36 Mean?
But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the messengers of the heavens, nor the Son, except the Father alone.
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
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.THE KEY
The verse locates this knowledge with the Father alone: neither human certainty nor heavenly messengers possess it.
THE MEANING
The exact day and hour remain beyond the reach of every human and heavenly messenger; only the Father knows. Your uncertainty about the timing is not proof that you have missed a hidden clue.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If you cannot identify the date, you have failed to uncover a secret that someone else can know.
THE ROOT
οἶδεν
oiden
GROWS FROM
εἴδω
eídō
Historically, οἶδα (oida, know) is the perfect form of εἴδω, with the present sense “to know.”
The Greek word for knowing belongs to a family that joins knowing with seeing: historically, it carries the sense of having seen. Here, that shade sits beside a clear boundary: the Father alone knows the appointed time.
ALSO GROWS
eîdon: saw
εἶδον
This form from the same see-and-know family makes visible the connection English leaves behind.
eîdos: form, appearance
εἶδος
This related word names what is seen, keeping the family’s connection between perception and knowing in view.
THE PATTERN
When knowledge of God’s timing belongs to God alone, it remains beyond human knowing.
The hidden things belong to the LORD our God, but the uncovered things belong to us and to our children for the ages, that we may do all the words of this instruction.He makes everything radiant in its time. He also sets what is for the ages in their heart, so that no one can find the work God makes from head to end.He said to them, "It is not yours to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has set in his own power."THE THREAD
So stay awake, for you do not know on what day your master comes.The same Greek verb οἶδα (oida, know) appears again in “ye know not,” now placing that limit directly with the reader. The next verse turns the unknown hour toward watchfulness rather than calculation.
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