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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 19:29 And every one that has forsaken houses,

Peter asks what those who give up everything to follow Jesus will get.

Spoken to
Apostles

Matthew 19:29 καὶ πᾶς ὅστις ἀφῆκεν οἰκίας ἢ ἀδελφοὺς ἢ ἀδελφὰς ἢ πατέρα ἢ μητέρα ἢ τέκνα ἢ ἀγροὺς ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὀνόματος, πολλαπλασίονα λήμψεται καὶ ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσει.

KJV Verse

Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

What His Listeners Heard:

And everyone who left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or a father, or a mother, or children, or fields for the sake of this my name, many times more will get. And a life perpetual he shall inherit for himself.

Lost In Translation:

If you think about how this phrase was spoken, with its many "or" phrases, it would clearly have been humorous.  That humor is emphasized by the use of the funny word translated as "hundredfold" or "hundred times" that is actually means "getting many times much more." Again, a typical exaggeration used in Jesus's humor.

The last words translated as "eternal life" more literally mean "a perpetual living" or  "a life lasting for an age" or "life-long living."  The sense of the word "life" as a "living" is emphasized by the word "property" at the end of the verse.  The word translated as "eternal" means "lasting for an lifetime" or "lasting for an age." It didn't have the "eternal" sense in ancient times because nothing was thought to be eternal. That is a more modern, Christian concept.

This word for "life" here that can also mean "a living" has a verb form meaning "to live" and "to be alive."  It is one of two different Greek terms translated as "life" in the Gospels. This is physical life and the substance of life.  It is physical life animated by spirit (see this article on related Greek terms). This is the life that comes from our "substance,” "property," as well as our "existence.”  When we talk about making a living, we are talking about this type of life. In verb form, it is a metaphor for "to be full of life," "to be strong," and "to be fresh.”   The basic concept is the union of flesh with spirit, to create a breathing body.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

And every one that hath(WT) forsaken(WW) houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, [or wife(OS)], or children, or lands, for my (MW) name's sake, shall receive (MW)  an hundredfold(WW), and shall inherit everlasting life.

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
  • WT - Wrong Tense - The verb "has" indicate san action completed in the past, but the tense the simple past.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" is not shown in the English translation.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "name" is not shown in the English translation.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "by/for yourselves" is not shown in the English translation.
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "hundred times" means "many, many times."
  • IP  -- Inserts Phrase-- The Greek words translated as "as much in return" does not exist in the Greek source.
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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