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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 22:6 And the remainder took his servants,

After his opponents leave, Jesus addresses the crowd telling a parable comparing the realm of the skies to a man, a king.

Spoken to
audience

Matthew 22:6 οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ κρατήσαντες τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ ὕβρισαν καὶ ἀπέκτειναν.

KJV Verse

Matthew 22:6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 22:6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.

What His Listeners Heard:

Those ones, however, remaining, being strong, abused and destroyed those servants of his.

Lost In Translation:

Notice how similar the pattern is here to the parable of the tenants Matthew 21:33. However, it is just the structure, using different words. In his analogies, Jesus uses simple, common language to convey the body of the story adding overly dramatic, unusual language to emphasize the action and keep the listener's attention. In this verse and the last (Matthew 22:5), we are seeing unusually dramatic language, though it is typically hidden by translation. The strongest words meaning "abused" and "destroyed" end the verse.

The bland-looking "took" is an unusual word, used by Jesus only seven times meaning, "to be strong," "to hold sway," "to be the lord and and "to prevail over," "to get the upper hand," "to seize," "to control," and "to command." It is an adjective here, not an active verb as translated, describing the ones remaining, so "being strong."

The word translated as "remnant/rest" is also unusual, used only six times, and probably is interesting in some way, but I do

KJV w/Translation Issues :

And the remnant took(CW,WF) his (MW) servants(WP), and(IW) entreated them spitefully, and slew them.

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.