For those who want to know what Jesus really said, how he said it, why crowds came to hear him, and shades of meaning lost or hidden in translation.
After calling a tax collectors as a disciple, Jesus dines with tax collectors. The Pharisees asks him why he eats with them
Matthew 9:12 They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
Matthew 9:12 It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Those having strengths have no need of a healer instead those having weakness.
This verse is another play on words. It contrasts the strong (healthy/whole) with weak(sick) in a humorous way. The word translated as "sick" is often translated as a moral condemnation, "evil" but its more general meaning is "having weaknesses." More about the word used for "the sick" in this article.
The term translated as "physician" and "doctor" is better translated as "healer."
They that(IW) be(WW, WN) whole(WW, WN) need(WF) not a physician, but they that(IW) are(WW, WF) sick(WW,WN).
My analysis standards and methods are constantly improving. New information on each verse is provided as articles are updated. It requires approximately two years for me to work through updating each of Jesus's verses.
The everyday meanings of the Greek words Jesus used were different than the definitions they have been given over time in biblical translation. The word translations here are based upon documents of his time such as the Greek Septuagint, not ideas unknown in his time.
See what Jesus said in Greek and see how his words are changed in English translation. My goal is to translate Jesus's words as they were heard when he taught, not the way they are interpreted today. The work here resurrects the humor and cleverness of Jesus's words lost in translation.
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Each article provides detailed information on all the Greek words in each verse with links simplifying your own research. It compares the Greek to popular translations to show where words are confused, changed, left out, and added. This site offers research available nowhere else, such as how often Jesus uses a specific Greek word and links to a list of every verse in which he uses a given word.
| John 4:17 Thou hast well said, I have no husband: | May 10 2027 |
| John 4:16 Go, call thy husband, | May 09 2027 |
| John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water | May 08 2027 |
| John 4:13 Whosoever drinketh of this water | May 07 2027 |
| John 4:10 If thou knewest the gift of God, | May 06 2027 |
| John 3:21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light | May 05 2027 |
| John 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, | May 04 2027 |
| John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, | May 03 2027 |
| John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: | May 02 2027 |
| John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world | May 01 2027 |
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Christ's Words in Matthew as a Guide to 40 Days of Prayer.