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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 15:24 I am not sent but unto the lost sheep

The apostles ask him to send away a Canaanite (that is, non-Judean) woman, who is asking Jesus to heal her daughter.

Spoken to
Apostles

Matthew 15:24 Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ.

KJV Verse

Matthew 15:24 I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 15:24 “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

What His Listeners Heard:

Was I not been sent out except for these flocks, the destroyed ones of House Israel?

Lost In Translation:

Could it be that this verse is translated as the opposite of the way Jesus meant it? That is, that he meant it as an ironic question, the translators missed his meaning? It begins with a negative verb, which is a common form of an interrogatory statement. This also makes more sense because of the woman's reaction, approaching and praising him instead of being rejected. In John 10:16, Jesus says that he has come from other flocks that he must bring also.

The verse contains a double negative but double negatives are still negative in Greek.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

I am not sent but(CW) unto(CW) the lost (MW) sheep of the(IW) house of Israel.

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.