What Does Matthew 26:74 Mean?
Then he began to call down curses and to swear, saying, I do not know the man. And at once the rooster crowed.
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 began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.THE KEY
Fear can turn a known person into “the man,” yet the immediate crow exposes the denial as it leaves the mouth.
THE MEANING
Fear can make a person deny a bond they know, reducing the known person to “the man.” The cry comes immediately, exposing the denial in the very moment it is spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that saying “I know him not” can make a relationship disappear; the immediate cry shows that denial does not erase what is known.
THE ROOT
οἶδα
oida
GROWS FROM
εἰδ
eid
See, perceive; extended to know.
Greek οἶδα belongs to the εἰδ root family, whose basic image is seeing or perceiving. Peter’s words deny recognition itself: he says he does not know the person he recognizes.
ALSO GROWS
eidon: I saw; I perceived.
εἶδον
This branch makes the seeing beneath “know” visible and sharpens the force of Peter’s denial.
eidos: Form, visible appearance.
εἶδος
This branch names what can be seen, echoing the recognition that Peter’s words disown.
eidenai: To know; to have seen.
εἰδέναι
This infinitive shows how the root’s sense of seeing is carried into knowing.
THE PATTERN
Fear can make a person deny an allegiance aloud, while the denial reveals what is at stake.
The trembling of man sets a snare, but the one who leans his full weight on the LORD is set on high.Peter denied it again, and at once the rooster crowed.If we remain under it, we will also reign together with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.THE THREAD
He said to him a third time, "Simon, son of Jonas, do you hold me dear?" Peter was pained because he said to him a third time, "Do you hold me dear?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I hold you dear." Jesus said to him, "Pasture my sheep."Peter’s “thou knowest” uses the same Greek verb, οἶδα, as “I know not” here. The root returns in a changed sentence: the mouth that denied knowing now says that Jesus knows him.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us