What Does Matthew 5:2 Mean?
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,
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 he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,THE KEY
The opened mouth marks the threshold where what is held within becomes audible teaching.
THE MEANING
Jesus teaches you here in words meant to be heard; his opened mouth marks the point where instruction becomes available to others. You are addressed as a hearer, and the teaching continues in the words that follow.
THE ROOT
στόμα
stoma
GROWS FROM
στομ-
stom-
Mouth; also an opening or outlet, and in some contexts the edge of a blade.
The Greek word can name both a mouth and an opening, such as the outlet of a river; it can also describe a blade’s edge. Here, the opened mouth is the place where teaching passes from within to those who hear it.
ALSO GROWS
stomion: Mouthpiece, bit, or small opening.
στόμιον
This related form carries the sense of a mouth as an opening or instrument through which something passes.
distomos: Two-mouthed; used of a two-edged blade.
δίστομος
The compound preserves the image of a mouth as an edge or point of outward passage, adding depth to the verse’s image of speech issuing forth.
λέγων
legōn
GROWS FROM
λεγ-/λογ- (leg-/log-)
To say or speak; the related noun can mean word, message, or account.
The participle λέγων means “saying” and marks the teaching as spoken utterance. Its word-family includes λόγος (logos), meaning “word” or “message,” linking the act of teaching with the words through which it reaches the hearer.
ALSO GROWS
logos: Word, message, or account.
λόγος
This related form shows how speaking and the word spoken belong to one family.
lexis: Speech, expression, or wording.
λέξις
This related form keeps attention on the utterance itself: the teaching is expressed in words.
ἐδίδασκεν
edidasken
GROWS FROM
διδασκ-
didask-
To teach or instruct.
“taught” in this verse is edidasken. The verb is imperfect: “he was teaching.” It presents instruction as unfolding speech, rather than a single completed statement; the same stem links the act of teaching with teaching itself and the teacher.
ALSO GROWS
didaskalia: Teaching or instruction.
διδασκαλία
This noun names the content or practice of the teaching expressed in the verse.
didaskalos: Teacher.
διδάσκαλος
This related word names the one carrying out the act of teaching.
THE PATTERN
In scripture, an opened mouth marks the movement of teaching or hidden understanding into spoken words.
I will open my mouth in a likeness, and pour out riddles of old.So that what was spoken through the prophet might be filled, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will pour forth what has been hidden from the laying down of the world.Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same writing, and brought the good news of Jesus to him.THE THREAD
So that what was spoken through the prophet might be filled, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will pour forth what has been hidden from the laying down of the world.Both verses use the image of opening the mouth as teaching begins. Matthew 13:35 makes the disclosure explicit: spoken teaching gives voice to what had been hidden.
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