What Does Matthew 26:6 Mean?
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper.
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
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,THE KEY
The house named by a man’s affliction is already the place Jesus enters.
THE MEANING
The scene places you inside a home identified by its owner’s condition. Simon’s label remains visible, yet Jesus is present within that home; the condition does not keep the encounter outside.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A condition that marks a person makes their home inaccessible to Jesus. The verse places Jesus inside the very house named by that condition.
THE ROOT
οἰκίᾳ
oikia
GROWS FROM
οἰκ
house, dwelling
“house” in this verse is oikia. The οἰκ- family reaches from a dwelling to the act of inhabiting it and to those who belong to a household. Jesus is inside Simon’s actual home, where his stigmatized identity does not bar his presence.
ALSO GROWS
oikos: house, household
οἶκος
The closely related form shows how a building can also name the people and life gathered within it.
oikeō: dwell, inhabit
οἰκέω
This branch makes the house a place where someone is present, not just a structure.
oikeios: belonging to a household, familiar
οἰκεῖος
The same family of sounds reaches toward belonging; Jesus’ presence is already inside Simon’s home.
λεπροῦ
leprou
GROWS FROM
λεπ
peel, scale; associated with scaly skin
“leper” in this verse is leprou. The Greek label is formed from a word-family associated with scaling or peeling, and here it identifies Simon by his condition. The sentence holds that label beside Jesus’ presence in Simon’s home, without letting it become the boundary of the scene.
ALSO GROWS
lepō: peel, scale
λέπω
This verb shares the λεπ consonants and makes the image behind the condition word visible.
lepis: scale
λεπίς
The shared consonants connect Simon’s label to the scale-like surface named by this related word.
leptos: thin, fine
λεπτός
This related form shares the λεπ consonants and carries the sense of something thin or fine.
THE PATTERN
Divine presence crosses the boundary a stigmatizing label draws around a person.
And as he reclined at table in the house, look, many toll-takers and those who miss the mark came and reclined with him and his learners.And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and perceived him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay in your house."And he said to them, You know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to cling to, or come near, one of another nation; but God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.THE THREAD
In my Father's house are many places to remain. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to make ready a place for you.Matthew names Jesus inside Simon’s house; John uses the same Greek οἰκία (oikia, house) for the Father’s house. The shared dwelling-word opens Simon’s stigma-marked home toward belonging: presence reaches the home his label might seem to close.
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