What Does Matthew 25:6 Mean?
And at midnight a cry was raised, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go out to meet him.
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
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.THE KEY
The Greek ties the watchers who “go out” to the bridegroom who “comes”: both verbs grow from the same root, so the encounter begins as reciprocal movement.
THE MEANING
The announcement reaches you at midnight, holding two motions together: he comes, and you go out. Waiting gives way to encounter as the one approaching meets those who move toward him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that the darkness must clear before encounter can begin.
THE ROOT
ἐξέρχεσθε
exerchesthe
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
To come, go, or arrive.
In Greek, “go ye out” is the same movement word as the bridegroom’s “cometh,” with the direction “out” attached. English divides the motions, while the verse joins his coming and the watchers’ coming out in one encounter.
ALSO GROWS
erchomai: To come, go, or arrive.
ἔρχομαι
This is the verb behind “the bridegroom cometh” in the same verse.
exerchomai: To go out or come out.
ἐξέρχομαι
The prefix ex- adds the outward direction to the same movement word, forming “go ye out.”
THE PATTERN
A summons at the threshold of change turns waiting into movement toward encounter.
And he called for Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, “Rise up, and go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said.”And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.Truly, truly, I say to you, The hour is coming, and now it is, when the dead will hear and respond to the voice of the Son of God, and those who respond will live.THE THREAD
And if I go and make ready a place for you, I come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.Matthew’s “cometh” is ἔρχεται (erchetai), from ἔρχομαι; in John, “I will come” uses that same root. Here the arriving movement opens into receiving and being together.
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