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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise

Attack of Pharisees, casting out demons, proof

Spoken to
audience

Matthew 12:42 βασίλισσα νότου ἐγερθήσεται ἐν τῇ κρίσει μετὰ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ κατακρινεῖ αὐτήν: ὅτι ἦλθεν ἐκ τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς ἀκοῦσαι τὴν σοφίαν Σολομῶνος, καὶ ἰδοὺ πλεῖον Σολομῶνος ὧδε.

KJV Verse

Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 12:42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

What His Listeners Heard:

An empress of a south-west quarter will be awakened in  the judgment with this type here. And she will judge against it because she made her way from the boundary of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. And look! Something greater than Solomon: here!. 

Lost In Translation:

This verse uses much of the vocabulary and forms of the previous verse, but a key change is hidden. The "rise up" here is a different word than the word translated as "rise/stand up" earlier. This word has more the sense of "awaken" than "rise."

Like Matthew 12:6, and the previous verse, this verse is an example of the translators wanting Jesus to say something that he clearly didn't. There is a problem with "greater" referring to a person. The "greater" is neuter, not masculine. When Jesus uses this word to refer to a person, as he does in Matthew 11:11, he uses a masculine form as you would expect. Here, it refers to "something," most likely his "realm of the skies."

KJV w/Translation Issues :

The(IW) queen of the(IW) south shall rise(CW) up(IW) in the judgment with this(MW) generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is(IW) here.

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.