What Does Matthew 27:31 Mean?
After they had mocked him, they stripped the robe from him, put his own garments on him, and led him away to crucify 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 after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.THE KEY
The Greek uses the same clothing verb in opposite directions: they strip away the robe, put his own clothes back on, and lead him to execution.
THE MEANING
The sequence is deliberate: mockery, removal of the robe, return to his own garments, then forced movement toward crucifixion. The scene makes humiliation bodily and public; the mockery is performed, but the violence is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that mockery is only words or harmless play: here the mocked person is stripped, redressed, and led to execution.
THE ROOT
ἐκδύω
ekdyō
GROWS FROM
δύω
dyō
To go into; in these clothing compounds, to put on.
“took the robe off / put his own raiment on” in this verse is ekdyō. English gives these actions different verbs, while Greek repeats the same core with opposite prefixes: ek- means out, en- means in. The garment changes direction, but the coercion continues: they remove the robe, dress him in his own clothes, and lead him away.
ALSO GROWS
ekdyō: Strip off, take off clothing.
ἐκδύω
This is the verb behind taking the robe off him.
endyō: Clothe, put on clothing.
ἐνδύω
The same verb core now turns inward as they dress him in his own garments.
ἐμπαίζω
empaizō
GROWS FROM
παίζω
paizō
To play; the compound means to mock or make sport of someone.
“mocked” in this verse is empaizō. The word carries the sense of playing at someone or making sport of him. Here the performance of mockery does not make the scene unreal: it leads directly into physical violence.
ALSO GROWS
paizō: Play.
παίζω
This is the play-word at the root of the mockery.
empaizō: Mock, ridicule, make sport of.
ἐμπαίζω
The word names the treatment that frames the stripping and redressing.
THE PATTERN
Violence uses a person’s clothing as part of the public staging of humiliation.
And it came to pass, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him.They divide my garments among them, and upon my clothing they make the lot fall.And they will hand him over to the nations to mock him, and to whip him, and to crucify him. And on the third day he will be raised.THE THREAD
They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.The verb translated “stripped” is from the same ἐκδύω family as the verb for taking the robe off him here. Read together, the verses show the costume change: they put a mock royal robe on him, then remove it and return his own clothes before leading him to crucifixion.
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