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Today's Verse Analysis

Matthew 19:28 ...That you who have followed me,

Peter asks what those who give up everything to follow Jesus will get.

Spoken to
Apostles

 Matthew 19:28 Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ὑμεῖς οἱ ἀκολουθήσαντές μοι ἐν τῇ παλινγενεσίᾳ, ὅταν καθίσῃ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης αὐτοῦ, καθήσεσθε καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπὶ δώδεκα θρόνους κρίνοντες τὰς δώδεκα φυλὰς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ.

KJV Verse

Matthew 19:28 Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

NIV Verse:

Matthew 19:28 Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

What His Listeners Heard:

Amen I tell you that you yourselves, the ones following me in the rebirth, when the son of the man sits down on his chair of recognition, you yourselves will drop yourselves down on twelve chairs, judging the twelve clans of Israel.

Lost In Translation:

This verse is dotted with emphasized "you yourselves," with extra "you" pronouns used as subject of the phrases that are edited out in translation. There is also a "yourselves" that is part of the second "sit" verb. There are two different verbs translated as "sit" here, that have a very different meanings. The first, applied to the son of the man, means "sit," but the other, applied to the Apostles, means "drop yourselves down."  The second is only used by Jesus in this verse. The two words  sound alike, but the first is more formal with a sense of honor while the second has the sense of sitting someone down to put them to work. There is a humorous contrast here between the honor Jesus will get and the fact that though the apostles are going to be put to work.

There is another unique word here, used only once by Jesus, translated as "generation" and "renewal of all things." I cannot find another used of it in any other ancient Greek work. The word is a compound. The prefix means "again."  The base is an adjective referring to a day that honors the birthday of the dead. It is actually from the same root as the word for "birthday," which has the same root as the name of the first book of the bible, Genesis, the means "origin" and "source." So the sense is that there is a second creation.

 

KJV w/Translation Issues :

Verily I say unto you, That ye which have(WT) followed(WF) me, in the regeneration when the Son of (MW) man shall(CW) sit in(WW) the(IW) throne of his glory, ye (MW) also shall sit(WW) (MW) upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

KJV List (See full page for word-by-word analysis):
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "truly" is not shown in the English translation.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "at" is not shown in the English translation.
  • IW - Inserted Word -- The word "world" doesn't exist in the source.
  • WF - Wrong Form -  The "is made new" is not an verb phrase but a noun, "rebirth."
  • IW - Inserted Word -- The word "and" doesn't exist in the source.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "the" is not shown in the English translation.
  • MW -- Missing Word -- This subject pronoun duplicates information in the verb so it needs a "yourselves" after "you" for emphasis.
  • WT - Wrong Tense - The verb "have" seems to indicate an action completed in the past, but the tense is something happening at a point in time past, present, or future.
  • IW - Inserted Word -- The word "been" doesn't exist in the source.
  • WF - Wrong Form -  The "my" is not possessive but an object "me."
  • WF - Wrong Form -  The "followers" is not a noun but a participle, "following."
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "you" is not shown in the English translation.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "by/for yourselves" is not shown in the English translation.
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "sit" means "drop down."
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "by/for yourselves" is not shown in the English translation.
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.

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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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