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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 15:6 And he need not honor his father nor his mother.

A confrontation with Pharisees about traditions versus law.

Spoken to
The Pharisees

Matthew 15:6  οὐ μὴ τιμήσει τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ: καὶ ἠκυρώσατε τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὴν παράδοσιν ὑμῶν.

KJV Verse

Matthew 15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 15:6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

What His Listeners Heard:

Never will he honor that father of his, and you set aside this idea of the Divine by that tradition of yours.

Lost In Translation:

This verse is much shorter in Greek. A lot was added to the KJV translation, both in the Greek to English translation and in the Greek source, which was translated from the Latin rather than the original Greek source that we use today. In looking at this and related verses, it seems as though the translators may not have liked Christ's message here and were working a bot to obscure it.

The last part of this verse ("of God") copies the ending in Matthew 15:3 exactly, but Jesus changes the word translated as "commandment" here. This is an example of Jesus repeating phrases, usually for humorous effect.

 

KJV w/Translation Issues :

 And(OS) honour not(CW) his father [or his mother(OS)], [he shall be free(IP)]. Thus(WW) have(WT) ye made the commandment(OS) of (MW) God of none effect by your (MW) tradition.

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.