What Does Matthew 3:4 Mean?
And John himself wore a garment of camel's hair and a belt of hide about his loins; his food was locusts and wild honey.
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 the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.THE KEY
John wears Elijah’s wilderness signature before he speaks, letting his clothing identify the prophetic pattern.
THE MEANING
The wilderness is visible in John before he speaks: camel hair, a leather belt, locusts, and wild honey make his life legible as a prophetic sign. The verse speaks now through that image: a messenger’s whole way of appearing can carry a message, while his food comes from what the wild provides.
THE ROOT
ζώνην
zōnēn
GROWS FROM
ζώννυμι
zōnnymi
To gird or fasten around with a belt.
“belt of hide” in this verse is zōnēn. The belt belongs to a word family built around girding the body. Here, the leather belt around John’s loins echoes Elijah’s identifying description in 2 Kings 1:8, so the clothing carries a prophetic identity.
ALSO GROWS
perizōnnymi: Gird around; put on a belt.
περιζώννυμι
The same girding action makes the belt a visible marker, not a stray clothing detail.
anazōnnymi: Gird up; prepare oneself.
ἀναζώννυμι
The word family can extend from fastening a belt to readiness, adding the sense of a body prepared for its work.
τροφή
trophē
GROWS FROM
τρέφω
trephō
To nourish, feed, or rear.
The Greek word names food or nourishment; it does not specify flesh. Locusts and wild honey are presented as what sustains John, keeping the verse’s attention on wilderness provision.
ALSO GROWS
trephō: Feed, nourish, or bring up.
τρέφω
It reveals the sustaining action underneath the noun for food.
trophos: Nourisher; nurse.
τροφός
This related word shows the same family describing one who feeds and sustains.
THE PATTERN
A messenger’s life can carry the message as visibly as the messenger’s words.
And they answered him, He was a hairy man, girded with a belt of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.Thus Ezekiel is a sign to you. According to all he has done, so shall you do. When this comes, you shall perceive that I am the Lord GOD.And if you will take it in, this is Elias, the one who is about to come.THE THREAD
And they answered him, He was a hairy man, girded with a belt of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.The leather belt around the loins repeats Elijah’s identifying description, and the Greek wording closely echoes the phrase in this verse. The repeated silhouette lets you recognize Elijah’s prophetic pattern in John before the later identification is stated outright.
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