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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you,

Answering the Pharisees regarding ignoring traditions.

Spoken to
The Pharisees

 Matthew 15:7 ὑποκριταί, καλῶς ἐπροφήτευσεν περὶ ὑμῶν Ἠσαίας λέγων

KJV Verse

Matthew 15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

NIV Verse:

Matthew 15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

What His Listeners Heard:

Actors. He was correctly divinely inspired about you. Isaiah says:

Lost In Translation:

The Greek for "the hypocrites" is a great example of a word that has taken its English meaning from how it is used in the Bible rather than the original Greek. It means "actor" from its literal meaning, "under separation," which describe the separation between what is said and reality. Interesting enough, it also means "interpreter," which is another separation between what is said and reality.

Today, there is a difference in how we read the word  "prophesied" and how the people of Jesus's time understood it. We use the untranslated Greek words because of what these Greek words in English came to mean "foretell the future" in the 2,000 years after Jesus, but that was not their meaning at the time. The word "prophet" meant "shining light" or "luminary." Read this article for more information. The word translated as "prophesy" meant "to be possessed by a divine spirit," which is how one becomes a "luminary" or "shining light."

KJV w/Translation Issues :

Ye hypocrites(UW), well did Esaias prophesy(UW) of you, saying,

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.