What Does Matthew 8:6 Mean?
And saying, Lord, my servant lies at home, loosened and racked with grievous torment.
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 saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.THE KEY
The word for paralysis carries the image of movement coming unloosed, while the verse names torment still gripping the person.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now of a body whose movement is gone and whose torment is severe, without making either condition vague. It also shows that suffering can be carried into care by another voice when the afflicted person is not the one speaking.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that pain only counts when the person suffering can explain it or seek help for themselves.
THE ROOT
παραλυτικός
paralytikos
GROWS FROM
λύω (lyō), stem λυ- (ly-)
To loosen, unbind, or release.
“loosened” in this verse is paralytikos. Παραλυτικός (paralytikos, paralyzed) is formed from παρά (para, beside) and λύω (lyō, loosen). The English word names a condition; the Greek also carries an image of movement coming unloosed, even as the verse separately names the person’s severe torment.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: To loosen or unbind.
λύω
This verb sits at the center of παραλυτικός (paralytikos, paralyzed) and gives the word its image of movement coming unloosed.
apolyō: To release, dismiss, or send away.
ἀπολύω
This compound uses the same λύω (lyō, loosen) stem, showing how the root can also name release.
katalyō: To loosen down, dismantle, or take apart.
καταλύω
This compound keeps the root’s physical sense of something being loosened visible.
THE PATTERN
One person’s suffering can be carried into the open by another person’s appeal.
And Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, O God, heal her now, I beg you.Therefore his sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, look, the one you love is weak.Carry one another's weights, and so you fill up the instruction of the Anointed One.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.The next verse answers the report of paralysis and torment with the servant’s healing in the selfsame hour. What is carried to Jesus through another person’s appeal reaches the suffering body.
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