1
Ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ καιρῷ ἤκουσεν Ἡρῴδης ὁ τετραάρχης τὴν ἀκοὴν Ἰησοῦ,
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report of Jesus,
Why this rendering
Matt.14.1 Observation
Syntactic observation
Herod's title divides. Matthew has ὁ τετραάρχης — τετρα-, four, plus ἀρχή, rule: the ruler of a quarter — and it stands at three places in the corpus: here and Luke 3:19 and 9:7. That is: **Matthew and Luke use the precise title, and Mark alone calls him king.** Mark 6:14 has ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἡρῴδης, King Herod, and keeps using βασιλεύς thereafter (6:22, 25, 26, 27). Yet Matthew too calls him ὁ βασιλεύς at v.9 — giving the precise title at v.1 and the story's own word at v.9. The two books name the same man differently, and the two words also mix inside Matthew. The rest of the vocabulary overlaps: γενέσια (birthday), πίναξ (platter) and ἀποκεφαλίζω (to behead) all stand in both books, with πίναξ twice in each (Matt 14:8, 11; Mark 6:25, 28) and once more at Luke 11:39, where it is a dish being cleaned.
Rendering options · 2
Adopted tetrarch at v.1, king at v.9 — the two words kept apart inside Matthew
Basis Two words in Matthew get two renderings; Mark uses βασιλεύς throughout and stays king.
Level both to king
Basis One man, one title.
Rejected That Matthew chose the precise title at v.1 is the datum — the precision is both his difference from Mark and his difference from his own v.9. Levelling erases both.
2
καὶ εἶπεν τοῖς παισὶν αὐτοῦ· Οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστής· αὐτὸς ἠγέρθη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αἱ δυνάμεις ἐνεργοῦσιν ἐν αὐτῷ.
and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he was raised from the dead, and for this reason the works of power are at work in him.”
3
Ὁ γὰρ Ἡρῴδης κρατήσας τὸν Ἰωάννην ἔδησεν ⸀αὐτὸν καὶ ⸂ἐν φυλακῇ ἀπέθετο⸃ διὰ Ἡρῳδιάδα τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ,
For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him away in prison, because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip;
4
ἔλεγεν γὰρ ⸂αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰωάννης⸃· Οὐκ ἔξεστίν σοι ἔχειν αὐτήν·
for John kept saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
5
καὶ θέλων αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι ἐφοβήθη τὸν ὄχλον, ὅτι ὡς προφήτην αὐτὸν εἶχον.
And wanting to kill him he feared the crowd, because they held him to be a prophet.
6
⸂γενεσίοις δὲ γενομένοις⸃ τοῦ Ἡρῴδου ὠρχήσατο ἡ θυγάτηρ τῆς Ἡρῳδιάδος ἐν τῷ μέσῳ καὶ ἤρεσεν τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ,
But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst and pleased Herod,
7
ὅθεν μετὰ ὅρκου ὡμολόγησεν αὐτῇ δοῦναι ὃ ⸀ἐὰν αἰτήσηται.
so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
8
ἡ δὲ προβιβασθεῖσα ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς· Δός μοι, φησίν, ὧδε ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ.
And she, urged on by her mother, says, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
9
καὶ ⸂λυπηθεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ⸃ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τοὺς συνανακειμένους ἐκέλευσεν δοθῆναι,
And the king was grieved; but because of the oaths and those reclining with him he ordered it to be given,
10
καὶ πέμψας ἀπεκεφάλισεν ⸀τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ·
and he sent and had John beheaded in the prison.
11
καὶ ἠνέχθη ἡ κεφαλὴ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πίνακι καὶ ἐδόθη τῷ κορασίῳ, καὶ ἤνεγκεν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς.
And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
12
καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἦραν τὸ ⸀πτῶμα καὶ ἔθαψαν ⸀αὐτόν, καὶ ἐλθόντες ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ Ἰησοῦ.
And his disciples came and took the corpse and buried him; and they went and reported to Jesus.
Why this rendering
Matt.14.12 Observation
Syntactic observation
The two books open with the same clause and close on different verbs. Mark 6:29: ἦραν τὸ πτῶμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔθηκαν αὐτὸ ἐν μνημείῳ — took his corpse and laid it in a tomb. Matthew 14:12: ἦραν τὸ πτῶμα καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτόν — took the corpse and buried him. The first half matches; Mark uses τίθημι, to lay, with a place, and Matthew uses θάπτω, to bury. θάπτω occurs three times in Matthew (8:21, 22, 14:12) and three in Luke (9:59, 60, 16:22), and never in Mark — two of the three being let the dead bury their own dead at 8:21-22. The objects divide too: Mark has αὐτό, it, neuter, picking up πτῶμα; Matthew has αὐτόν, him, masculine, picking up the person. The neuter that named a corpse becomes in Matthew a masculine naming a man. And Matthew alone adds a final clause — the disciples went and told Jesus. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀πτῶμα ⸀αὐτόν,).
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “took the corpse and buried him” — the shift of gender kept
Basis Keeps the move from the neuter corpse to the masculine him; Mark 6:29 already reads laid, so the two places stand apart.
Keep it neuter — buried it
Basis Agrees with the corpse before it.
Rejected Matthew changed the gender: a corpse before, a person after — and that shift is one of the points where he parts from Mark.
13
⸂Ἀκούσας δὲ⸃ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν ἐκεῖθεν ἐν πλοίῳ εἰς ἔρημον τόπον κατ’ ἰδίαν· καὶ ἀκούσαντες οἱ ὄχλοι ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ πεζῇ ἀπὸ τῶν πόλεων.
And hearing it, Jesus withdrew from there by boat to a desolate place by himself; and the crowds, hearing of it, followed him on foot from the towns.
14
καὶ ⸀ἐξελθὼν εἶδεν πολὺν ὄχλον, καὶ ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπ’ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐθεράπευσεν τοὺς ἀρρώστους αὐτῶν.
And coming out he saw a large crowd, and was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.
15
ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ ⸀μαθηταὶ λέγοντες· Ἔρημός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος καὶ ἡ ὥρα ἤδη παρῆλθεν· ἀπόλυσον τοὺς ὄχλους, ἵνα ἀπελθόντες εἰς τὰς κώμας ἀγοράσωσιν ἑαυτοῖς βρώματα.
And when evening came the disciples came to him, saying, “The place is desolate and the hour has already passed. Send the crowds away, so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
16
ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Οὐ χρείαν ἔχουσιν ἀπελθεῖν· δότε αὐτοῖς ὑμεῖς φαγεῖν.
But Jesus said to them, “They have no need to go away; you give them something to eat.”
17
οἱ δὲ λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· Οὐκ ἔχομεν ὧδε εἰ μὴ πέντε ἄρτους καὶ δύο ἰχθύας.
And they say to him, “We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish.”
18
ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· Φέρετέ μοι ⸂ὧδε αὐτούς⸃.
And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
19
καὶ κελεύσας τοὺς ὄχλους ἀνακλιθῆναι ἐπὶ ⸂τοῦ χόρτου⸃, λαβὼν τοὺς πέντε ἄρτους καὶ τοὺς δύο ἰχθύας, ἀναβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εὐλόγησεν καὶ κλάσας ἔδωκεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς τοὺς ἄρτους οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ τοῖς ὄχλοις.
And directing the crowds to recline on the grass, he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven he blessed them, and breaking them he gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.
20
καὶ ἔφαγον πάντες καὶ ἐχορτάσθησαν, καὶ ἦραν τὸ περισσεῦον τῶν κλασμάτων δώδεκα κοφίνους πλήρεις.
And they all ate and were satisfied; and they took up what was left over of the pieces — twelve hampers full.
21
οἱ δὲ ἐσθίοντες ἦσαν ἄνδρες ὡσεὶ πεντακισχίλιοι χωρὶς γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων.
And those eating were about five thousand men, apart from women and children.
22
Καὶ εὐθέως ⸀ἠνάγκασεν τοὺς μαθητὰς ἐμβῆναι ⸀εἰς πλοῖον καὶ προάγειν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ πέραν, ἕως οὗ ἀπολύσῃ τοὺς ὄχλους.
And at once he compelled the disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the crowds away.
23
καὶ ἀπολύσας τοὺς ὄχλους ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος κατ’ ἰδίαν προσεύξασθαι. ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης μόνος ἦν ἐκεῖ.
And having sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone.
24
τὸ δὲ πλοῖον ἤδη ⸂σταδίους πολλοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς ἀπεῖχεν⸃, βασανιζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν κυμάτων, ἦν γὰρ ἐναντίος ὁ ἄνεμος.
But the boat was already many stadia away from the land, tormented by the waves, for the wind was against them.
Why this rendering
Matt.14.24 Observation
Syntactic observation
στάδιος is a unit of distance and stands at four places in the corpus — here, Luke 24:13 (sixty to Emmaus), John 6:19 (twenty-five or thirty) and 11:18 (fifteen to Bethany). **Matthew alone gives no number, saying only πολλούς, many.** This project has transliterated measures (modios, milion, saton, lepton, kodrantes), and the same handling applies. And ἀπέχω returns in this verse — the verb of they have their reward in full at 6:2, 5, 16, used here in its plain sense of being distant. The word that stood objectless and undecidable at Mark 14:41 thus divides cleanly into two uses in Matthew: the commercial one of ch. 6 and the spatial one of ch. 14. Mark 6:47 writes the same scene as ἦν τὸ πλοῖον ἐν μέσῳ τῆς θαλάσσης, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and measures nothing, while John 6:19 goes the other way and gives a figure, twenty-five or thirty — Mark places only, Matthew names the unit, John counts. βασανιζόμενον, tormented, is the word used of the servant terribly tormented at 8:6, and its use of a boat is striking. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸂σταδίους ἀπεῖχεν⸃,).
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “was many stadia away” — the measure transliterated
Basis Transliterating measures is fixed for this corpus; converting would have the translator do the arithmetic.
Convert, e.g. “a few miles from land”
Basis Renders in a modern sense of distance.
Rejected The text does not count the stadia; it says only πολλούς, many. Converting invents a precision the text lacks and breaks with the handling of modios and saton.
25
τετάρτῃ δὲ φυλακῇ τῆς νυκτὸς ⸀ἦλθεν πρὸς ⸀αὐτοὺς περιπατῶν ἐπὶ ⸂τὴν θάλασσαν⸃.
And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.
26
⸂οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ ἰδόντες αὐτὸν⸃ ἐπὶ ⸂τῆς θαλάσσης⸃ περιπατοῦντα ἐταράχθησαν λέγοντες ὅτι Φάντασμά ἐστιν, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου ἔκραξαν.
But the disciples, seeing him walking on the sea, were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost” — and they cried out from fear.
27
⸀εὐθὺς δὲ ἐλάλησεν ⸂αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς⸃ λέγων· Θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ εἰμι· μὴ φοβεῖσθε.
But at once Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
28
Ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ⸂αὐτῷ ὁ Πέτρος εἶπεν⸃· Κύριε, εἰ σὺ εἶ, κέλευσόν με ⸂ἐλθεῖν πρὸς σὲ⸃ ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα·
And Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”
Why this rendering
Matt.14.28 Observation
Syntactic observation
**Peter walking on the water (vv.28-31) is in Matthew alone.** Mark 6:45-52 has Jesus walking on the sea, the disciples crying out at what they take for a ghost, and the wind dropping as he gets into the boat — and stops there. John 6:16-21 tells the same scene, shorter still, and Luke does not have the scene at all. **Of the three books that have it, only Matthew puts Peter in it.** Matthew inserts four verses into Mark's account. Peter's words open with a condition — εἰ σὺ εἶ, if it is you. Since Jesus has just said ἐγώ εἰμι, it is I, at v.27, Peter takes that statement up as a condition. And the request is an imperative: κέλευσόν με, command me. The two words Jesus uses at v.31 are Matthew's own: ὀλιγόπιστε, you of little faith, four times in Matthew (6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8), once in Luke (12:28) and never in Mark or John; and διστάζω, to doubt or be of two minds, occurs twice in the whole corpus, both in Matthew (14:31, 28:17). Since 28:17 is where some doubted before the risen Jesus, the word falls once near the start and once at the very end of Matthew. The καταποντίζομαι of v.30, to sink, likewise occurs twice in the corpus, both in Matthew (14:30, 18:6). SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸂αὐτῷ εἶπεν⸃· ⸂ἐλθεῖν σὲ⸃).
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters” — the condition kept
Basis Keeps the εἰ-clause so that it visibly takes up the it is I of v.27.
Soften toward confidence, e.g. “since it is you”
Basis Reads Peter's faith into the clause.
Rejected εἰ states a condition, not a ground. Since Jesus says at v.31 you of little faith, why did you become of two minds, beginning with a condition fits the grain of the scene.
29
ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· Ἐλθέ. καὶ καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ ⸀πλοίου Πέτρος περιεπάτησεν ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα ⸂καὶ ἦλθεν⸃ πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν.
And he said, “Come.” And getting down from the boat, Peter walked on the waters and came toward Jesus.
30
βλέπων δὲ τὸν ἄνεμον ⸀ἰσχυρὸν ἐφοβήθη, καὶ ἀρξάμενος καταποντίζεσθαι ἔκραξεν λέγων· Κύριε, σῶσόν με.
But seeing the wind was strong he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me.”
31
εὐθέως δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα ἐπελάβετο αὐτοῦ καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ὀλιγόπιστε, εἰς τί ἐδίστασας;
And at once Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him, and says to him, “You of little faith, why did you become of two minds?”
32
καὶ ⸀ἀναβάντων αὐτῶν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον ἐκόπασεν ὁ ἄνεμος.
And when they had got into the boat the wind dropped.
33
οἱ δὲ ἐν τῷ ⸀πλοίῳ προσεκύνησαν αὐτῷ λέγοντες· Ἀληθῶς θεοῦ υἱὸς εἶ.
And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are God's Son.”
Why this rendering
Matt.14.33 Observation
Syntactic observation
The same scene ends three different ways in the three books. Mark 6:51-52: as the wind drops the disciples ἐξίσταντο, were beside themselves, οὐ γὰρ συνῆκαν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἄρτοις, for they had not understood about the loaves, ἦν αὐτῶν ἡ καρδία πεπωρωμένη, their heart was hardened. Matthew 14:33: those in the boat προσεκύνησαν αὐτῷ, worshipped him, saying Ἀληθῶς θεοῦ υἱὸς εἶ, truly you are God's Son. John 6:21 is different again — they wanted to take him into the boat and at once the boat was at the land they were making for, and no reaction is recorded. One says they failed to understand, one has them confess, and one says nothing at all. θεοῦ υἱός is anarthrous — the same article-less form as the centurion's confession at Mark 15:39. So in Matthew this confession comes from the disciples already in ch. 14, while in Mark it waits until ch. 15 and comes from a gentile soldier. πεπωρωμένη, hardened, occurs only at Mark 6:52 and 8:17 and not in Matthew at all. SBLGNT marks a variant in this verse (⸀πλοίῳ).
Rendering options · 2
Adopted “Truly you are God's Son” — kept apart from Mark 6:52
Basis Renders each book as printed; that the two reactions are opposite is what this corpus can show.
Render the anarthrous form as “a son of a god”
Basis Reads the absence of the article as indefinite.
Rejected At Mark 15:39 the same anarthrous form was fixed as definite, God's Son; that the speakers here are the disciples points the same way. That the article is absent is nonetheless recorded here.
34
Καὶ διαπεράσαντες ἦλθον ⸂ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν εἰς⸃ Γεννησαρέτ.
And crossing over, they came to land at Gennesaret.
35
καὶ ἐπιγνόντες αὐτὸν οἱ ἄνδρες τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου ἀπέστειλαν εἰς ὅλην τὴν περίχωρον ἐκείνην, καὶ προσήνεγκαν αὐτῷ πάντας τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας,
And the men of that place, recognising him, sent into all that surrounding region and brought him all who were ill,
36
καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν ἵνα μόνον ἅψωνται τοῦ κρασπέδου τοῦ ἱματίου αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὅσοι ἥψαντο διεσώθησαν.
and they begged him that they might only touch the fringe of his cloak; and as many as touched it were brought safely through.