What Does Matthew 26:57 Mean?
Then those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.
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 they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.THE KEY
The same Greek root links Jesus being led away with the council being gathered: one is moved by force while the others assemble around him.
THE MEANING
When you are being carried toward judgment, this verse lets you see the imbalance clearly: others move you while authority has gathered around you. One person is seized; a council stands assembled. The verse shows how an individual’s vulnerability can become a matter of collective power.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A gathering of senior authorities does not erase the fact that one person is being taken by force.
THE ROOT
ἀπήγαγον
apēgagon
GROWS FROM
ἀγ- (ἄγω, agō)
lead, bring
“led him away” in this verse is apēgagon. The verb translated “led away” is built on ἄγω (agō), meaning “lead” or “bring.” The word for “assembled,” συνήχθησαν (synēchthēsan), comes from συνάγω (synagō), “gather together,” which shares that same base: the movement of one person and the gathering of the council belong to one scene.
ALSO GROWS
synagō: gather together; bring together
συνάγω
Its form συνήχθησαν (synēchthēsan), “were assembled,” describes the council gathered around Jesus.
exagō: lead out
ἐξάγω
The same root can describe movement out from a place, echoing the forceful direction of “led away.”
eisagō: lead in; bring in
εἰσάγω
The root carries the sense of directing someone’s movement, whether out or into a place.
κρατήσαντες
kratēsantes
GROWS FROM
κρατ- (κρατέω, krateō)
grasp, hold with strength; exercise power
“seized” in this verse is kratēsantes. “Laid hold” carries the sense of a strong grasp, and its root is also found in the Greek word for power or might. The verse’s first movement is not neutral transport: it begins with force applied to a person.
ALSO GROWS
kratos: strength, might, power
κράτος
This noun shares the root and makes the force within “laid hold” visible.
enkrateia: self-control, mastery
ἐγκράτεια
Here the same root points to having power over one’s own impulses, while the verse depicts power exerted over another.
THE PATTERN
Authority gathers allies and witnesses around the person it means to oppose or accuse.
Then these men rushed together, and found Daniel seeking and pleading for favor before his God.The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers sit down together against the LORD and against his anointed one, saying,For in truth, in this city, against your set-apart servant Jesus, whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate were gathered together with the nations and the peoples of Israel,THE THREAD
They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pontius Pilate the governor.The same verb for “led him away” appears again as the bound Jesus is delivered to Pilate. The movement continues from one authority to another, making this council one point in a longer chain of custody.
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