What Does Matthew 9:13 Mean?
But go and learn what this means, I desire faithful love and not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the aligned, but those who miss the mark to turning.
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 go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.THE KEY
The call toward turning grows out of mercy, not from having first qualified as righteous.
THE MEANING
The verse places mercy above sacrifice as what God desires. The call reaches the person who is missing and opens toward a turn; the present miss is not the end of the sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must first become righteous to be called, or that sacrifice can stand in for mercy.
THE ROOT
ἔλεος
eleos
GROWS FROM
ἐλε-
Mercy, pity, compassion.
Matthew’s Greek ἔλεος (eleos, mercy) renders the Hebrew חֶסֶד (ḥesed, faithful love) in the saying from Hosea, bringing relational loyalty into view. The related Greek words show mercy as something enacted, so the saying weighs living care against sacrifice rather than making compassion a mood.
ALSO GROWS
eleeō: Show mercy
ἐλεέω
This verb carries the same mercy word family into an action toward another.
eleēmosynē: Almsgiving; an act of mercy
ἐλεημοσύνη
This related word shows mercy expressed through tangible care.
ἁμαρτωλούς
hamartōlous
GROWS FROM
ἁμαρτ-
Miss, fail, err.
“those who miss the mark” in this verse is hamartōlous. The Greek ἁμαρτωλούς (hamartōlous, sinners) belongs to the ἁμαρτ- family of missing or failing. The sentence does not make the miss a person’s final identity: it places them on the receiving end of a call toward turning.
ALSO GROWS
hamartanō: Miss, fail, do wrong
ἁμαρτάνω
This verb shares the root and makes the label’s connection to a miss visible.
hamartēma: A failure, offense, or wrong
ἁμάρτημα
This noun names the miss as an act or result, rather than as an unchangeable nature.
μετάνοιαν
metanoian
GROWS FROM
νο-
Mind, perception; the νο- element concerns thinking or perceiving.
“to turning” in this verse is metanoian. Μετάνοια (metanoia, turning) joins μετά (meta, change) with the νοῦς/νοέω (nous/noeō, mind/perceive) word family. Here it gives the call a direction: the person who misses is summoned into a changed orientation, not left with remorse as the whole story.
ALSO GROWS
noeō: Think, perceive
νοέω
This related verb makes the perception element beneath μετάνοια visible.
dianoia: Mind, understanding
διάνοια
This compound shares the νο- family and links the root to the way a person understands.
THE PATTERN
Mercy toward people who miss outranks ritual when ritual is detached from faithful love.
For I delight in faithful love and not slaughter, and the knowledge of God more than the ascending offerings.But if you had known what this means, I desire faithful love and not offering, you would not have condemned those without fault.For judgment will be without faithful love for the one who did not show such love, and faithful love boasts over judgment.THE THREAD
I have not come to call the aligned, but those who miss the mark into turning.Luke preserves the same Greek phrase καλέσαι ... εἰς μετάνοιαν (kalesai ... eis metanoian, to call ... to turning). The shared wording makes the movement clear: the call reaches those who miss and aims toward a turn.
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