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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 12:4 How he entered into the house of God,

Pharisees attack, violating the Sabbath

Spoken to
The Pharisees

Matthew 12:4 πῶς εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ “τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως” ἔφαγον, ὃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἦν αὐτῷ φαγεῖν οὐδὲ τοῖς μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν μόνοις; μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ εἰ μὴ τοῖςἱερεῦσιν μόνοις;

KJV Verse

Matthew 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

NIV Verse:

Matthew 12:4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.

What His Listeners Heard:

How he entered into the house of the Divine and, the bread of the display, they consumed, that not was permitted for him to consume, nor those with him, except the priests alone. 

Lost In Translation:

In most modern translations, the bread here is described as "sacred" or "consecrated," but the Greek word describing it means that it was "for show." The parallel verses in Mark 2:26 are phrased differently and include more information. This is one of those cases where Matthew is the simplest of the three versions. 

KJV w/Translation Issues :

How he entered into the house of (MW) God, and did eat the (MW) shewbread, which was not lawful(CW) for him to eat, neither for them which were(IW) with him, but(CW) only for the priests?

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.