What Does Matthew 26:50 Mean?
And Jesus said to him, Friend, what are you here for? Then they came near, threw their hands upon Jesus, and seized 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 Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.THE KEY
Jesus calls the one before him “Friend” as the others lay hands on him and seize him; the word of relationship does not cancel the force of the act.
THE MEANING
“Friend” stands beside Jesus’ question, “wherefore art thou come?”; the group then lays hands on him and takes him. The address does not soften or undo what is done to his body.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that a friendly address proves a gentle encounter: Jesus is then seized.
THE ROOT
ἐκράτησαν
ekratēsan
GROWS FROM
κρατέω
krateō
To hold fast, seize, or take possession.
“seized” in this verse is ekratēsan. The verb translated “took” belongs to a word family that also names might and self-mastery. Here that force is directed outward: the group takes hold of Jesus, and the nearby words “laid hands” make the bodily action plain.
ALSO GROWS
kratos: Might, strength, or dominion.
κράτος
This branch names the power that the verb puts into action as the group takes hold of Jesus.
enkrateia: Self-control, mastery over oneself.
ἐγκράτεια
This related word applies mastery inward, while the verb here describes control being exerted over another person.
THE PATTERN
Human force turns contact into custody by taking hold of another person’s body and controlling where it goes.
Then Midianite traders passed by, and they drew him up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph into Egypt.And when he had taken hold of him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to lead him up before the people.THE THREAD
For Herod had seized John and bound him, and set him away in the guardhouse for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.The Greek verb translated “laid hold” is the same verb translated “took” here. Matthew uses it again for a ruler’s physical seizure of a person, making the repeated language of grip and custody visible.
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