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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 16:6 Take heed and beware of the leaven

In response to the Apostles realizing they forgot to bring bread, a comedic misunderstanding takes place.

Spoken to
Apostles

Matthew 16:6 Ὁρᾶτε καὶ προσέχετε ἀπὸ τῆς ζύμης τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων.

KJV Verse

Matthew 16:6 Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 16:6 “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

What His Listeners Heard:

Watch out and be on guard from the leaven of the dedicated and righteous.

Lost In Translation:

The meaning of this verse is tied up with a word that it doesn't contain. The Greek word for "spirit" means "breath" and leaven puts breath, that is, air (CO2) bubbles, into the dough, making it rise.  A keyword in this verse is mistranslated as "of" when it actually means "from" in a very specific way. The point of this verse is that we cannot see the "leaven" in dough. To see if dough is leavened or not, we must observe how it behaves.  Spirit is invislbe except for the actions it motivates. The leaven itself is a symbol. Jesus only mentions the Sadducees here and in a followup to this statement in Matthew 16:11.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

Take heed(CW) and beware(CW) of(WW) the leaven of the Pharisees and of the(IW) Sadducees.

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
For analysis of each word of original Greek and biblical verses, click here.

Constantly Updated

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.

What Jesus's Listeners Heard

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.

About this Site

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.