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Matthew 11:6 And blessed is [he], whoever shall not be offended by me.
Context:

To John's Followers, describing himself

Spoken to:
group
Greek Verse:

Matthew 11:6  καὶ μακάριός ἐστιν ὃς ἂν μὴ σκανδαλισθῇ ἐν ἐμοί.

 KJV Verse:

Matthew 11:6 And blessed is [he], whoever shall not be offended by me.
NIV Verse:

Matthew 11:6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.

Literal Alternative:

Also, lucky is that one when he does not seem tripped up around me.

 Hidden Meaning:

A lot of the humor here is lost in translation. The Greek words translated as "blessed" is the same adjective used in the Beatitudes that means "fortunate" and "lucky."

The "offended" are more interesting than the way they are translated. It is a word that means "tripped up."

The negative here, "not," is the negative of thought or desire. The sense is "want to be" or "seems to be."

 The Spoken Version:

“But your words all have multiple meanings,” complained one.
“We find so much of what you say confusing, because you play with words,” complained another.
“The more we are around you, the more confused we are,” said a third.
Brother James and Lover Boy, who were with him, laughed and agreed with the man.
The Master chuckled, nodding his head sympathetically in agreement.
“Also, lucky is that one,” added the Master, “when he does not seem tripped up around me.”
My Takeaway:

We are lucky when the truth trips us up.

For detailed analysis of each word of original Greek, KJV and NIV translations, and more, click here.

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About this Site

I started this site fifteen years ago.  My original award-winning work as a "techno-linguist" was in ancient Chinese. I wanted to bring the same computer search and analysis techniques to explore something more important: the original Greek of Jesus's words.

This site does not promote any religious point of view. Indeed, it seeks to avoid the competing and evolving religious dogmas that have shaped Biblical translation for centuries.  I purposely use "nonreligious" sources for Greek word meaning, rejoining the study of Biblical Greek with the broader study of ancient Greek. My goal is simply to identify how listens of his time heard him.

Jesus' words are unique for three reasons.

  1. They were spoken, not written. Spoken language is inherently different than written language.
  2. They changed the meaning of words, determining even how later NT authors' used the Greek.
  3. They were the basis of a unique historical revolution in they way people think.

Most of the on-line material on "Biblical Greek" is largely tautological. It explains the Greek only in terms of how it has been historically translated into English. It flows from the ways that the  Gospel was taught from the Latin Vulgate. I respect this work and use it daily. However,  most of my work takes place outside of this tradition, researching the use of the Greek closer to the time of Jesus, especially the Greek OT, the Septuagint.

The Bible has been such a powerful force in history that it has changed the meaning of many words in English, Latin, and Greek. However, the Greek of Jesus's words has been faithfully preserved for centuries from the changing religious fashions of history. These fashions, unfortunately, affect each successive English translation of the Bible, moving it further and further from the Greek.  I stopped analyzing the NLT version because so much of it fails to connect to anything in the Greek. The Message version is much worse.

This site is offered for those who care about fidelity to Scripture in any sense of the word.

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