What Does Matthew 27:51 Mean?
And look, the hanging curtain of the temple was torn in two, from above to below, and the earth shook, and the rocks broke open.
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, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;THE KEY
The same verb splits both the temple veil and the rocks, so sacred space and the earth break open together.
THE MEANING
The boundary around the holy gives way from above, beyond the reader’s reach. The earth and rocks split with it, joining the opening of sacred space to a rupture in the material world.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the sacred can remain sealed off while the rest of creation is untouched is undone: the veil, earth, and rocks all break open together.
THE ROOT
ἐσχίσθη
eschisthē
GROWS FROM
σχίζω
schizō
To split, divide, or rend.
“torn in two” in this verse is eschisthē. Matthew uses the same Greek verb for the veil being torn and the rocks splitting. English repeats “rent,” but the shared root binds the sanctuary’s opening to a fracture in the ground.
ALSO GROWS
schisma: A split or division.
σχίσμα
This noun names a division formed by the same root; here, the split becomes an opening in a boundary.
schistos: Split, cleft, or divisible.
σχιστός
This related form describes the state of something divided, making the rocks’ physical splitting part of the same word-family.
THE PATTERN
When a boundary is split or removed, an opening appears where there was separation.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD made the sea go back by a strong breath of the east all that night, and made the sea dry ground, and the waters were split.And in this mountain he will swallow up the face of the covering wrapped over all peoples, and the veil poured out over all nations.A fresh and living way that he opened anew for us through the hanging curtain of his flesh;THE THREAD
And straightway, coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens split apart, and the Breath, like a dove, coming down upon him.At Jesus’ immersion, the Greek word for “opened” is σχιζομένους (schizomenous), “being split apart,” from σχίζω (schizō), “to split or rend.” Matthew uses that same root for both veil and rocks, linking the opening of the heavens to the rupture at the cross.
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