What Does Matthew 27:53 Mean?
They came out of the tombs after his raising, went into the set-apart city, and appeared to many.
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 came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.THE KEY
The same Greek movement-root carries the dead out of their graves and into the city, taking resurrection from enclosure into public life.
THE MEANING
The verse holds emergence, entry into the city, and being seen in one continuous movement. Those who come out of the graves do not remain hidden; they enter shared space and become visible to many.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that death seals a life away permanently is undone here: those in the graves come out and are seen.
THE ROOT
ἔγερσιν
egersin
GROWS FROM
ἐγείρω
egeirō
to wake, rouse, or raise up
The Greek word translated “resurrection” carries the action of raising or awakening. In this verse, that raising is followed by others coming out of their graves, so resurrection appears as movement into visible life.
ALSO GROWS
egeirō: to wake, rouse, or raise
ἐγείρω
This verb supplies the raising action beneath the noun translated “resurrection.”
egertheis: having been raised
ἐγερθείς
This form makes the raising concrete: someone is brought up, rather than resurrection remaining an abstract idea.
ἐξελθόντες
exelthontes
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
to come or go
“came” in this verse is exelthontes. The verse uses compounds of the same Greek movement-verb for coming out of the graves and going into the city: ex- marks out, while eis- marks into. English gives these movements different verbs, hiding the shared root that carries the dead from enclosure into the city.
ALSO GROWS
exerchomai: to go out, come out, or emerge
ἐξέρχομαι
This compound names the movement out of the graves.
eiserchomai: to enter or go in
εἰσέρχομαι
This compound carries the same movement-root into the holy city.
ἐνεφανίσθησαν
emphanisthēsan
GROWS FROM
ἐμφανίζω
emphanizō
to make visible or manifest
“appeared” in this verse is emphanisthēsan. The Greek verb has the sense of being made manifest, not simply occupying a place. The movement ends with these people visible to many, making public recognition part of the verse’s account of their emergence.
ALSO GROWS
emphanizō: to make visible or manifest
ἐμφανίζω
This is the verb whose passive form describes their being shown to many.
emphanēs: visible or manifest
ἐμφανής
This related word names the visible state reached at the end of the verse.
THE PATTERN
What is enclosed in death is raised, brought out, and made visible among the living.
Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the ground of Israel.Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear and respond to his voice,In an instant, in the flick of an eye, at the last trumpet; for it will sound, and the dead will be awakened undecaying, and we will be made other.THE THREAD
The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.Matthew’s “came out” and John’s “came forth” use forms of the same Greek verb, ἐξέρχομαι, meaning to come or go out. In both verses, the grave does not keep the dead within it: they cross into the sight of others.
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