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Today's Verse Analysis

Jesus follower challenged for not washing their hands before eating bread.

Spoken to
The Pharisees
KJV Verse

Matthew 15:3 Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

NIV Verse:

Matthew 15:3 And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

What His Listeners Heard:

By what, have you yourselves also bypassed the order of the Divine by this tradition of yours.

Lost In Translation:

This verse represents some wonderful repartee between Jesus and his accusers that is lost in translation. His accusers make a play on words accusing his followers of not washing before eating and Jesus turns in back on them. In Greek, this verse doesn't read as though it is a question. Punctuation was not part of the original Greek of the Gospels.

Note that Jesus is not denying his "transgression" but saying that his accusers are doing the same thing. They probably throught that Jesus was describing the washing of hands before meals as a tradition that violated the Law. Jesus's response is consistent with his constant criticism of social norms and traditions taking precedence over true spirit. In the original Greek, Jesus makes it clear that his accusers, the scribes and Pharisees, are more interested in legalisms than the spirit of the law. Much of Christ's teaching in Matthew is aimed at clarifying that a meaningful personal relationship with God and other people are much more important in cycle of spirit than conforming to social pressure and social norms.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

(MW) Why(CW) do you (MW) also transgress the commandment of (MW) God 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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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.