What Does Matthew 28:10 Mean?
Then Jesus said to them, Do not fear. Go, bring word to my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will perceive me.
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 said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.THE KEY
The answer to fear is a promised meeting that immediately becomes news carried to others.
THE MEANING
Fear meets a word that leads toward encounter and gives you something to carry to others. Jesus is Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ, yēšūaʿ, deliverance), and the promise is concrete: there, they will see him. Kinship is spoken before the meeting, gathering the brothers toward that seeing.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that fear disqualifies you from carrying good news or that a meeting with Jesus ends in private reassurance. Here fear is followed by kinship, direction, and a message.
THE ROOT
ὄψονται
opsontai
GROWS FROM
ὁρ
The consonantal base of ὁράω (horaō): seeing or looking upon.
English can make seeing sound like confirmation at a distance, but ὄψονται (opsontai, they will see) promises an encounter with Jesus himself. The person they are promised to see is Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ, yēšūaʿ, deliverance), so the meeting carries the nature of deliverance into the scene.
ALSO GROWS
horaō: To see, look upon
ὁράω
This is the verb behind ὄψονται; it makes seeing Jesus the destination of their going.
horasis: Sight, vision
ὅρασις
It shares the ὁρ consonants and carries the root from the act of seeing into sight itself.
horatos: Visible, perceptible
ὁρατός
It shares the same ὁρ family and underscores that Jesus is promised as one they will perceive.
φοβεῖσθε
phobeisthe
GROWS FROM
φοβ
The Greek consonants φοβ (phob) carry the sense of fear or dread.
“afraid” in this verse is phobeisthe. The command meets fear directly, then gives the frightened women a route and a message. Fear is present in the sentence, but it does not cancel the promised seeing or the task of carrying news.
ALSO GROWS
phobos: Fear, dread
φόβος
It shares the φοβ consonants and names the fear the command addresses.
phoberos: Fearful, dreadful
φοβερός
It shares the same consonants and shows how this family describes what evokes fear.
phobeō: To frighten or feel fear
φοβέω
It shares the φοβ family and links the experience of fear with what causes it.
ἀπαγγείλατε
apangeilate
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ
The Greek consonantal family ἀγγελ (aggel) carries the sense of announcing or conveying a message.
“go, bring word” in this verse is apangeilate. The command belongs to the same message family as ἄγγελος (angelos, messenger): the women are entrusted to carry news outward. What they encounter does not stay private; it becomes an announcement that gathers the brothers.
ALSO GROWS
angelos: Messenger
ἄγγελος
It shares the ἀγγελ consonants and names one who carries a message, illuminating the women’s role here.
angelia: Message, report
ἀγγελία
It shares the same consonants and names the news they are commanded to carry.
angellō: To announce, report
ἀγγέλλω
It shares the ἀγγελ family and makes the command an act of announcing.
THE PATTERN
A promised encounter interrupts fear and turns what is seen into a message carried to others.
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.I seek the LORD, and he answers me, and snatches me out of every place of dread.Mary Magdalene came and brought word to the disciples that she had perceived the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.THE THREAD
Mary Magdalene came and brought word to the disciples that she had perceived the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.Matthew’s ἀπαγγείλατε (apangeilate, tell or report) and John’s ἀγγέλλουσα (angellousa, announcing) share the Greek ἀγγελ message family. In both verses, a woman carries the news of seeing the risen Jesus to the disciples.
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