44
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Greek — tap a word ↓
hē basileia tōn ouranōn estin Homoia thēsaurō kekrymmenō en tō agrō anthrōpos heurōn hon ekrypsen kai apo tēs autou charas hypagei kai pōlei panta hosa echei kai agorazei ekeinon ton agron
Word by word31 · parsed
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
basileia: royalty, reign, kingdom Strong's glosses G932 first as royalty, the rule before the realm. Maclaren declines to over-define it, saying only that it means "a state or order of things in which God is King, and His will supreme and sovereign," and that a man can go into it and it can come into a man. That double motion is why the same kingdom can be both a buried treasure and a thing bought.
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ouranos: the sky, heaven Genitive plural, Matthew's habitual "of the heavens" where Mark and Luke usually say "of God." A circumlocution, not a different kingdom.
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
√ ὅμοιος — similar (in appearance or character)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
√ θησαυρός — a deposit, iNounDative Masculine Singular
thēsauros: a deposit, treasure Dative, governed by homoia. The word names the deposit itself, not the container. The named voices divide over the referent: Barnes takes it as concealed money or an unknown vein of ore; Gill insists it is the Gospel, "a treasure consisting of rich truths"; Benson calls it the salvation of the gospel; Maclaren pushes further and says the treasure is finally God Himself. The parable does not adjudicate; it only insists that the thing is worth everything.
√ κρύπτω — to conceal (properly, by covering)VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveDative Masculine Singular
kryptō: to conceal, to cover over Perfect Participle Middle or Passive. The perfect is the hinge of the whole parable: the hiding is finished, its effect stands. Nobody in the story hid it recently, and the finder had nothing to do with its being there. Ellicott sets it in its world, where hoards were "hastily concealed in time of war or tumult"; Pulpit reads the perfect theologically, as purpose rather than accident. The same root returns in v. 44 as the man's own act (ἔκρυψεν), so the verse contains one lexeme used twice with two different agents.
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
√ ἀγρός — a field (as a drive for cattle)NounDative Masculine Singular
agros: a field With the article τῷ: Pulpit and the Revised Version read "in the field," not "a field." Pulpit also warns that the field here is not the field of v. 24 and v. 38; here it is only what contains the treasure, "perhaps the outward profession of Christianity," while Gill and Benson read the field as the Scriptures in which the Gospel lies hid.
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounNominative Masculine Singular
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
heuriskō: to find Aorist Participle Active, a single point of discovery. Note what is absent: there is no verb of seeking anywhere in v. 44. Cambridge draws the conclusion, that here "the kingdom of heaven presents itself unexpectedly," and names the woman of Samaria, the jailer at Philippi, the centurion by the Cross. The seeking verb (ζητοῦντι) is withheld until v. 45, which is precisely how the twin parables differ.
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
√ κρύπτω — to conceal (properly, by covering)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
kryptō: to conceal, to cover over Aorist Indicative Active, third singular: the man does to the treasure what an unknown owner had already done to it. Gill guards the act from the sense it carries in the parable of the talent hidden in a napkin: here the hiding "designs his care of it; his laying it up in his heart, that he might not lose it." Pulpit reads it plainly as prudence, lest premature assertion lose him the treasure.
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
Preposition of source, not of accompaniment; see the divergence on ἀπὸ τῆς χαρᾶς αὐτοῦ.
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
√ χαρά — cheerfulness, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
chara: cheerfulness, joy The one emotional word in the parable, and it stands before the selling, not after it. Pulpit sets it deliberately against Matthew 19:21, where the demand to sell all produces grief in the rich young man: same transaction, opposite affection, because one man has seen the treasure and the other has not.
√ ὑπάγω — to lead (oneself) under, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
√ πωλέω — to barter (as a pedlar), iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
pōleō: to barter, to sell Present indicative, the liquidation still in progress.
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
echō: to hold, to have Present indicative: everything that stands in his name at that moment. Contrast the imperfect εἶχεν at v. 46.
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
√ ἀγοράζω — properly, to go to market, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
agorazō: to go to market, to buy A blunt commercial verb, and the point at which every commentator here feels the strain. Poole concedes the tension and does not resolve it away: our labour for the kingdom "is set out under the notion of buying," yet Isaiah 55:1 and 2 declare "it is a buying without money and without price." What is parted with is never a price proportionate to the thing got; it is only what God is pleased to accept.
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
√ ἀγρός — a field (as a drive for cattle)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
agros: a field Accusative: he buys the field, not the treasure. The purchase is of the whole plot for the sake of the one thing in it, which is why the parable resists a tidy allegory of self-purchased salvation.