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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 15:13 Every plant, which my heavenly Father

After being challenged by the Pharisees, Jesus's students ask if he knows that he tripped them up

Spoken to
Apostles

Matthew 15:13  Πᾶσα φυτεία ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ἐκριζωθήσεται.

KJV Verse

Matthew 15:13 Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be uprooted.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 15:13 Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

What His Listeners Heard:

Every crop that this father of mine, the sky one, didn't plant, It will be root out.

Every generation that he hasn't fathered, this father of mine, the sky one, he will root out.

Every cycle of crops where my universal Father has not planted [the trees] is going to be rooted out.

Lost In Translation:

The words translated as "plant" and "planted" have multiple meanings and do not really mean "plant" or "planted,"  except in the sense of planting trees, which is Jesus' analogy for families. Planted is a play on words.  The word translated as "plant" means a given season's crops or a generation of people. It is used only here by Jesus. The word translated as "planted" means "engender" or "fathered." It is used only seven times. The word translated as "uprooted" is also rare, used only three times.

While Jesus often uses symbols or, as he says, figures of speech, this verse has several meanings right on the surface. Indeed, the KJV may pull the symbols out of a verse where the plain meaning is right on the surface.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

Every plant(WW), which my heavenly(WF) Father hath(WT) not planted(MM), shall be uprooted.

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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Do Your Own Research

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.