What Does Matthew 9:12 Mean?
But Jesus, hearing this, said to them, Those who are strong have no need of a healer, but those who fare badly.
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
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.THE KEY
The physician’s name belongs to the word family of healing, so the one “doing badly” is exactly where the physician’s work begins.
THE MEANING
Here, “whole” carries the sense of being strong, while “sick” describes those who are doing badly. The physician belongs precisely where things are going badly; need names the place of care, not a reason to be shut out.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that you must already be whole to be worthy of care.
THE ROOT
ἰατρός
iatros
GROWS FROM
ἰα-
ia-
healing
“healer” in this verse is iatros. The Greek name for a physician belongs to the same word family as the verb for healing. The one doing badly is not outside the physician’s purpose; that is precisely where the work of healing is needed.
ALSO GROWS
iaomai: to heal
ἰάομαι
This verb shares the physician’s word family and makes the healing purpose inside the title audible.
iasis: healing, cure
ἴασις
This related noun names the work the physician is associated with.
ἰσχύοντες
ischyontes
GROWS FROM
ἰσχυ-
ischy-
to be strong, have strength
The word rendered “whole” points toward strength or capacity. The contrast is between those who are strong and those who are doing badly, making the physician’s need depend on condition rather than worthiness.
ALSO GROWS
ischys: strength
ἰσχύς
This related noun makes the strength beneath “whole” visible.
katischyo: to prevail, be strong against
κατισχύω
This related verb carries the same sense of having strength or prevailing.
κακῶς ἔχοντες
kakōs echontes
GROWS FROM
κακ-
kak-
bad, badly
“fare badly” in this verse is kakōs echontes. The Greek phrase is literally “having it badly” or “doing badly.” It describes a present condition, not a permanent identity, and places the physician’s work at the point of distress.
ALSO GROWS
kakos: bad, harmful
κακός
This adjective is the source of the adverb describing how these people are doing.
kakia: badness, wickedness
κακία
This related noun shows the wider range of the same root’s sense of what is bad.
THE PATTERN
Across Scripture, healing meets affliction where it is and binds what is broken.
He mends the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.And Jesus answered and said to them, Those who are strong have no need of a healer, but those who are sick.THE THREAD
And he said to them, Surely you will say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard was done in Capernaum, do also here in your father's land.Matthew’s word for “physician” belongs to the same word family as Luke’s “heal thyself” (ἰάομαι, iaomai, “to heal”). The pairing makes the physician’s purpose audible inside the title: a person doing badly is where healing is needed.
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