What Does Matthew 26:31 Mean?
Then Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble because of me this night; for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered apart.
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 saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.THE KEY
The Greek behind “offended” pictures a trap catching the foot, so the verse casts the disciples’ collapse as a fall set in motion by the shepherd’s blow.
THE MEANING
When the shepherd at the center is struck, you can lose your footing and scatter with the rest of the flock. The verse names the rupture in a shared bond that gathers you, rather than treating the scattering as a private failure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that stumbling proves you never belonged: the verse places the fall inside the experience of the flock already gathered around the shepherd.
THE ROOT
σκανδαλισθήσεσθε
skandalisthēsesthe
GROWS FROM
σκάνδαλ-
The σκάνδαλ- (skandal-) family names a snare or trap and, by extension, an obstacle that catches a foot in a fall.
“made to stumble” in this verse is skandalisthēsesthe. The verb here is a future passive of σκανδαλίζω: the disciples are pictured as being caught into a stumble by what happens that night. The shared σκάνδαλ- family links that fall with a snare or stumbling block, opening a deeper image within “offended.”
ALSO GROWS
skándalon: A trap, snare, or stumbling block.
σκάνδαλον
This names the snare behind the verb, joining the idea of an obstacle to the experience of being caught and falling.
skandalízō: To cause to stumble or ensnare.
σκανδαλίζω
This is the verb family of the verse’s word; its passive form pictures the disciples as caught into the stumble.
ποιμένα
poiména
GROWS FROM
ποιμ-
The ποιμ- (poim-) family carries the sense of shepherding and tending a flock.
Greek carries both shepherd and flock words in the ποιμ- family, while English gives them different roots. The verse puts the shepherd’s blow beside the flock’s dispersal, making the loss of its tending center legible as a loss of cohesion.
ALSO GROWS
poimḗn: Shepherd.
ποιμήν
This is the noun family of the verse’s ποιμένα and names the one who tends the flock.
poimaínō: To shepherd, tend, or feed.
ποιμαίνω
This carries the shepherd’s work as ongoing care; the blow interrupts the tending that gathers the flock.
poímnē: Flock.
ποίμνη
This word shares the ποιμ- family, placing shepherd and gathered flock within one linguistic family before the verse describes their scattering.
THE PATTERN
When the shepherd at the center is struck or absent, those gathered around him can lose their cohesion and scatter.
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man at my side, says the LORD of hosts; strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones.They were scattered, because there is no shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field, when they were scattered.Look, an hour is coming, and it has come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and you will let go of me alone. And I am not alone, because the Father is with me.THE THREAD
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man at my side, says the LORD of hosts; strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand upon the little ones.This is the written line Jesus invokes: the blow to the shepherd and the flock’s scattering are one movement. The source continues, “and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones,” extending the scene beyond dispersal without softening the blow.
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