What Does Matthew 26:69 Mean?
Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him, saying, You also were with Jesus of Galilee.
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 Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.THE KEY
The one named Rock is identified first through another person’s words: he has been with Jesus.
THE MEANING
Someone else can name the company you keep before you speak for yourself. Peter’s name belongs to the Greek rock family, while the girl’s words publicly tie him to Jesus of Galilee; a name and a relationship meet before his answer.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your connection to Jesus remains invisible until you choose to name it; another voice can identify that connection first.
THE ROOT
Πέτρος
Petros
GROWS FROM
πετρ-
The Greek πετρ- (petr-) word family means rock or stone.
Peter’s name belongs to the same Greek family as words for rock. Before he answers, the verse places the one named Rock under another person’s claim about his connection to Jesus.
ALSO GROWS
petra: Rock; a rocky mass or bedrock.
πέτρα
This is the rock word that makes Peter’s name part of a larger Greek word family.
petrodes: Rocky or stony.
πετρώδης
This related word carries the same rock family into a description of stony ground.
μετά
meta
GROWS FROM
μετά
The Greek preposition μετά (meta) means with, among, or after; here it means with.
The Greek phrase says Peter was μετὰ Ἰησοῦ (meta Iēsou, with Jesus). In this word family, association can also shade into sharing or participation, giving “with” a sense of connection that English leaves open.
ALSO GROWS
metochos: Partner, sharer, or partaker.
μέτοχος
This related form carries the idea of being with someone into shared participation.
metechō: Partake or share in.
μετέχω
The compound uses μετά (meta, with) to express participation.
metochē: Participation or sharing.
μετοχή
This related noun gives the association in the verse a branch that means having a share in something.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yeshua
GROWS FROM
ישע
The Hebrew root י-ש-ע (y-sh-ʿ) means to deliver or bring out into safety and spaciousness.
The Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsous, Jesus) represents Hebrew יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshua, deliverance). The name spoken in the verse carries the nature of deliverance, while Peter is identified through his association with that name.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: Deliver or bring to safety.
יָשַׁע
This verb is the root action carried in the name Yeshua.
yeshuah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun names the release or rescue that the root describes.
moshia: Deliverer.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This form names the one who brings deliverance.
THE PATTERN
A person’s association becomes visible when words name who is with whom.
And Ruth said, Do not press me to let go of you, or to turn back from following after you. For where you walk, I will walk, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people are my people, and your God my God.And after a little while those standing beside him came to Peter and said, In truth you also are one of them, for your speech gives you away.Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and grasped that they were unlettered and ordinary men, they marveled, and they knew them, that they had been with Jesus.THE THREAD
And I also say to you, You are Peter, the stone, and upon this bedrock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.Matthew 16:18 puts Πέτρος (Petros, Peter) beside πέτρα (petra, rock), making the Greek word family explicit. Here, the man named Rock is identified by someone else’s words before he gives his own.
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