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Today's Verse Analysis

After answering the question about the places of James and John, the other apostles were made at them for asking for special places.

Spoken to
Apostles
KJV Verse

Matthew 20:25 Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 20:25 You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

What His Listeners Heard:

You-all have seen that the rulers of the foreigners' lord over them and the great overpower them.

Lost In Translation:

There are two very long, very similar, and very rare words, Jesus uses here, perhaps even making them up. He often does this for the sake of humor.  The common form of these words is used in Luke 22:25. The two keywords here only appear in Greek writing after the time of the Gospels so Jesus may gave coined them or "koined" them, making them more common.

The Greek of these two words looks amusing, κατακυριεύουσιν and κατεξουσιάζουσιν. Notice that both have the same initial prefix, meaning "down" or "under." They also both have the same ending, but that is because they are the same verb form. Both these words are also found in Mark 10:42, but both are made into more common words, their prefixes removed, in Luke 22:25. So Luke may be the first one to start simplifying Jesus's words, making them more serious and easier to understand. Something that continues today in English translation. The root of the first word is the common word for "lord." With the prefix, the sense is "lording over," which has its own humorous uses in English. The root of the second is a less common word, used by Jesus twenty-three times, meaning "power," specifically legal authority, and again, we have a similar verb in English "to overpower."

KJV w/Translation Issues :

 Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles [exercise dominion(CW)] over them, and they(CW) [that are(IP)] great exercise authority upon(CW) 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.