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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 18:30 And he would not

Teaching about forgiving people for their errors, in a story about forgiving debts

Spoken to
audience

Matthew 18:30 ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἤθελεν, ἀλλὰ ἀπελθὼν ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν εἰς φυλακὴν ἕως ἀποδῷ τὸ ὀφειλόμενον.

KJV Verse

Matthew 18:30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 18:30 But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

What His Listeners Heard:

This one, however, didn't want to, instead, leaving, he tossed him into a prison until he might give back that debt.

Lost In Translation:

The word translated as "he would not/refused" means "want," with the negative, "he didn't want that." The word translated as cast/throw" into prison has the more casual sense of our word "tossed" showing the man's casual attitude about this.

KJV w/Translation Issues :

And(WW) he(CW) would(CW) not: but(CW) went(WF) and(IW) cast him into prison, till he should(CW) pay the debt.

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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