What Does Matthew 25:37 Mean?
Then the aligned answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungering and feed you, or thirsting and give you drink?
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
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?THE KEY
The king is met in the need being answered before the giver recognizes who is there.
THE MEANING
Alignment is visible in the way the reader answers hunger and thirst, even when the act carries no calculation about being seen. The surprise is real: those who feed and give drink do not know they are serving the Lord.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Care matters only when the giver recognizes God’s presence and intends a sacred act.
THE ROOT
δίκαιοι
dikaioi
GROWS FROM
δίκη
dikē
Right, justice, and what is due.
“aligned” in this verse is dikaioi. The established sense of this word family is alignment: being in right relation. Here, that alignment appears in care for the hungry and thirsty, not in the giver’s awareness of being seen.
ALSO GROWS
dikaiosynē: Alignment; justice or righteousness.
δικαιοσύνη
This related word names the quality expressed by the righteous in this verse.
dikaioō: Set right, justify, or vindicate.
δικαιόω
It links being right with the restoration or recognition of what is right.
εἴδομεν
eidomen
GROWS FROM
ὁράω
horaō
See and perceive; in its wider verb family, seeing and knowing are closely linked.
“saw” in this verse is eidomen. The righteous have acted without identifying the person in need as the king. The Greek word family around seeing also carries the sense of knowing, so their question turns on recognition: they see the need but do not know whom that encounter reaches.
ALSO GROWS
eidon: Saw or perceived.
εἶδον
This is the form behind their question about when they saw the Lord.
oida: Know or understand.
οἶδα
This related form holds seeing and knowing close, sharpening the surprise in their question.
ἐχορτάσατε
echortasate
GROWS FROM
χορτάζω
chortazō
Feed until satisfied; fill.
“fed” in this verse is echortasate. The word for feeding carries the sense of satisfying hunger, not merely offering a token amount. The king is met through care that answers a body’s concrete need.
ALSO GROWS
chortos: Grass or fodder.
χόρτος
This related word preserves the concrete image of food used to feed.
chortazō: Feed, fill, or satisfy.
χορτάζω
This is the verb used here: the hunger is answered with food that satisfies.
chortasthēsontai: They will be filled or satisfied.
χορτασθήσονται
This form of the same verb appears in Matthew 5:6, connecting feeding with being filled.
THE PATTERN
Care given to a vulnerable person is received as care given to the Lord, even when the giver does not recognize the hidden recipient.
Whoever lends to the LORD shows favor to the emptied one, and what his hands have done, he makes whole for him.Do not let slip the opening of your home to strangers, for by it some have sheltered messengers without knowing it.And the King answers and says to them, Truly, I say to you, Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.THE THREAD
And the King answers and says to them, Truly, I say to you, Whatever you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did to me.The next line tells the reader why they did not recognize the Lord: the king receives what is done to the least as done to him. The encounter arrives through another person’s need, so the act precedes the giver’s recognition.
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