What Does Matthew 7:25 Mean?
And the rain came down, and the rivers came, and the winds breathed and fell against that house, and it did not fall, for it had been laid on the rock.
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 rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.THE KEY
The house is not spared the storm; what is founded on the rock is spared its final verdict.
THE MEANING
The storm reaches the house in full: rain falls, floods rise, and winds strike. The house remains because its support lies deeper than the forces hitting it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a life founded on what is true will be spared hardship: the house on the rock is struck too.
THE ROOT
πέτρα
petra
GROWS FROM
πετρ-
petr-
rock, rocky mass
The Greek word beneath “rock” belongs to a word family that also describes stony ground. The verse locates endurance in what supports the whole house: having stones around is not the same as being founded on rock.
ALSO GROWS
petrōdēs: rocky, stony
πετρώδης
This adjective describes the stony places in Matthew 13:5, where seed springs up but lacks depth; the word family shows that stoniness alone does not make a sound foundation.
Petros: Peter; stone or rock
Πέτρος
Matthew 16:18 places Petros beside petra, carrying the same rock imagery into a personal name.
THE PATTERN
What supports a life beneath its visible structure determines whether it remains standing under pressure.
Only he is my rock and my deliverance; he is my high place; I do not totter.Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a weighty cornerstone, a foundation set firm. The one who leans his weight will not hurry.He is like a human who built a house, dug deep, and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood rose, the river burst against that house and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.THE THREAD
He is like a human who built a house, dug deep, and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood rose, the river burst against that house and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.Matthew and Luke use the same Greek word, πέτρα (petra), for the rock beneath the house. Luke adds that the builder “digged deep,” showing how the foundation reaches what can hold when the flood presses against it.
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