What Does Matthew 8:10 Mean?
When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, Truly, I say to you, I have not found such leaning of the full weight, not even in Israel.
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
When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.THE KEY
The trust Jesus calls great treats his word as carrying his authority even across distance.
THE MEANING
Jesus marvels at trust that exceeds what he finds even in Israel: the centurion rests fully on the authority of Jesus’ word. The verse speaks now wherever trust is measured by what it can rely on rather than by visible proximity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that trust requires insider status or visible access to the one whose word is trusted.
THE ROOT
πίστιν
pistin
GROWS FROM
πιστ
Trust, reliance; the Greek πιστ- family connects trusting with being firm or trustworthy.
“such leaning of the full weight” in this verse is pistin. The Greek family links trusting to firmness: πίστις names trust, πιστεύω the act of trusting, and πιστός the quality of being firm or steady. The centurion’s confidence is settled reliance on the authority of a word.
ALSO GROWS
pisteuō: Trust, believe.
πιστεύω
This verb shares the πιστ consonants and names the act of placing trust.
pistos: Firm, steady; trustworthy.
πιστός
This adjective shares the πιστ consonants and describes the quality that makes reliance possible.
THE PATTERN
A word spoken with authority can act beyond the speaker’s visible reach.
He sends his word and heals them, and slips them free from their pits.So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.Jesus said to him, Go on your way; your son lives. And the man trusted the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went on his way.THE THREAD
And Jesus said to the commander of a hundred, Go; as you have leaned your full weight, so let it be done for you. And his servant was healed in that same hour.Verse 13 uses a verb from the same Greek πιστ- family for “hast believed”; the “great faith” of verse 10 is now spoken as the centurion’s trust. The next line places that trust beside the servant’s healing, linking the authority trusted with the outcome received.
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