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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 19:23 Truly I tell you, That a rich man shall...

Man told to sell his stuff to follow Jesus cannot do it.

Spoken to
Apostles

Matthew 19:23 Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πλούσιος δυσκόλως εἰσελεύσεται εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν:

KJV Verse

Matthew 19:23 Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 19:23 Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.

What His Listeners Heard:

Amen, I tell you that wealth enters with difficulty into the realm of the skies.

Lost In Translation:

The word translated as "hardly" and "hard" has the primary sense of "with difficult," not that it isn't often done. However, it also has the sense of "peevishly," unpleasantly," and "discontentedly," which describes as state of mind. This is a good example of why "the kingdom of heaven" might be best expressed as a state of mind rather than a place. It perhaps tells us more about the "kingdom of heaven" than it does "the rich."

This phrase "in the realm of the skies" takes two different forms in Greek. The form here with the preposition eis is only used three times by Jesus. See this article about this phrase and its uses. This phrase is not as common as you might think, used by Jesus only four times in this form.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of (MW) heaven(WN).

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.