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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts,

Jesus is speaking to a crowd including his disciples.

Spoken to
audience

Matthew 23:6  φιλοῦσι δὲ τὴν πρωτοκλισίαν ἐν τοῖς δείπνοις καὶ τὰς πρωτοκαθεδρίας ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς

KJV Verse

Matthew 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

NIV Verse:

Matthew 23:6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;

What His Listeners Heard:

They prefer, however, the front recliners in those meals and the front seats in those meetings.

Lost In Translation:

The "love" here means "prefer" or "like," but no Greek word that Jesus used really means "love" as we use it. See this article.

This verse continues to use words that are uncommon for Jesus. However, here, the words are very simple and easy to understand and a couple, "first couches" and "first chairs" are similar. The Greek is somewhat confused in translation, however. Starting with the fact it begins with a "but" or "however" indicating a conflict with a previous statement, probably Unrecorded Dialogue,  but it is changes to "and" in the KJV and left out I NIV.  Neither the KJV nor the NIV attempt to translate the "first couches" and "first chairs" at all honestly, choosing to characterize them rather than translation.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

And(WW) love the uppermost rooms at (MW) feasts(CW), and the [chief seats(WW)] in the synagogues(UW),

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.