What Does Matthew 8:13 Mean?
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.
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 Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.THE KEY
The centurion’s trust rests on a word that reaches his servant across the distance.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you where reach ends: trust rests in an authority not limited by physical distance. The servant is healed in that same hour, as the word spoken to the centurion becomes a bodily change for the one who is absent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that help can reach you only when the healer is physically beside you.
THE ROOT
ἐπίστευσας
episteusas
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
To persuade or win over; in the middle and passive forms, to be persuaded and trust.
“believed” in this verse is episteusas. The Greek word family holds trust beside being persuaded: this is confidence that leans its full weight on the one trusted. The centurion trusts Jesus’ authority to act even when Jesus is not physically present.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, confidence
πίστις
The related noun names the trust the centurion places in Jesus’ word.
pistos: Firm, steady; trustworthy
πιστός
The same word family links trust with steadiness and reliability.
ἰάθη
iathē
GROWS FROM
ἰα-
To heal or cure.
“was healed” in this verse is iathē. The Greek describes a healing that has taken place, and its word family also names healing and the healer. The verse places the completed cure in the very hour Jesus speaks.
ALSO GROWS
iasis: Healing, cure
ἴασις
This noun names the healing expressed by the verb in the verse.
iatros: Physician, healer
ἰατρός
The related word for a healer keeps the act of curing in view.
παῖς
pais
GROWS FROM
παιδ-
Child or youth; by extension, a servant or attendant.
The word translated “servant” can also mean “child” or “boy,” though it does not establish the servant’s age here. It lets the verse’s description carry both service and dependence in a single word.
ALSO GROWS
paidion: Little child
παιδίον
This related word makes the child sense of the word family explicit.
paideuō: To train or bring up a child
παιδεύω
The verb grows from the same child-root and shows another branch of the family.
THE PATTERN
Trust receives the reach of a word beyond the limits of physical proximity.
He sends his word and heals them, and slips them free from their pits.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
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 same Greek trust-word, πιστεύω (pisteuō), appears when the man believes Jesus’ word about his son. Like the centurion, he trusts a word about someone absent, and the following verses confirm the healing.
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