The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew14:22–33

Jesus Walks on Water

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Matthew 14:22–33 — Jesus Walks on Water. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

22

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowds.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai eutheōs ēnankasen tous mathētas embēnai eis to ploion kai proagein auton eis to peran heōs hou apolysē tous ochlous

Word by word20 · parsed
ΚαὶKaivvvG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὐθέωςeutheōsImmediatelyG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
eutheōs: directly, immediately Matthew's hinge adverb, repeated at verse 31 when the hand goes out. The haste is deliberate, and every commentator in this brief supplies the same reason from John 6:15: the crowd meant to seize him and make him king.
ἠνάγκασενēnankasen[Jesus] madeG315
√ ἀναγκάζω — to necessitateVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
anankazō: to necessitate, compel A strong verb, and the sourced voices split honestly over its force. Barnes: “There was no need of compulsion.” Gill reads the opposite: “it looks as if the disciples were bent upon the same thing,” so that “Christ was forced to use his power and authority.” Either way the aorist is decisive and the separation is his act, not theirs.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
μαθητὰςmathētasdisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἐμβῆναιembēnaiget intoG1684
√ ἐμβαίνω — to walk on, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πλοῖονploionboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
προάγεινproageingo on ahead ofG4254
√ προάγω — to lead forward (magisterially)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
proagō: to lead forward He sends them ahead into a crossing he will complete in a way none of them expects. Pulpit: “For he would follow. He fulfilled his promise much more literally than they anticipated.”
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πέρανperanother sideG4008
√ πέραν — through (as adverb or preposition), iAdverb
ἕωςheōswhileG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
οὗhou. . .G3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀπολύσῃapolysēHe dismissedG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
apolyō: to loose fully, dismiss The same verb opens verse 23 as a participle. Dismissing the crowd and going up to pray are one continuous action in the Greek, so the refusal of a crown and the retreat to the Father are not two scenes but one.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ὄχλουςochlouscrowdsG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
23

After He had dismissed them, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai apolysas tous ochlous anebē eis to oros kat’ idian proseuxasthai de opsias genomenēs ēn ekei monos

Word by word17 · parsed
καὶkaiAfterG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπολύσαςapolysasHe had dismissed [them]G630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
τοὺςtous. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ὄχλουςochlous. . .G3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἀνέβηanebēHe went upG305
√ ἀναβαίνω — to go up (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
anabainō: to go up Aorist indicative. Matthew has him ascend the mountain the moment the crowd that wanted to enthrone him is scattered. The kingship he declines below he seeks above, in prayer.
εἰςeisonG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄροςorosmountainG3735
√ ὄρος — perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
κατ’kat’byG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ἰδίανidianHimselfG2398
√ ἴδιος — pertaining to self, iAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Singular
idios: pertaining to self, one's own Not merely “alone” but “on his own account, apart.” Benson: those who are averse to solitude and “out of their element when they have none to converse with, none to enjoy, but God and their own souls” are not his followers.
προσεύξασθαιproseuxasthaito prayG4336
√ προσεύχομαι — to pray to God, iVerbAorist Infinitive Middle
proseuchomai: to pray toward God Aorist middle infinitive, expressing purpose: the ascent was in order to pray. Benson weighs honestly what the sinless One could need from prayer and answers that he had “many temptations to overcome, and unparalleled sufferings to endure.” Gill adds the striking detail that praying on a height was contrary to rabbinic rule.
δὲdeWhenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὀψίαςopsiaseveningG3798
√ ὄψιος — lateAdjectiveGenitive Feminine Singular
γενομένηςgenomenēscameG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Participle MiddleGenitive Feminine Singular
ἦνēnHe wasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be (imperfect) The imperfect ἦν stretches the state out: he kept on being there. Pulpit reckons “some eight hours, if it was spring or autumn.”
ἐκεῖekeithereG1563
√ ἐκεῖ — thereAdverb
μόνοςmonosaloneG3441
√ μόνος — remaining, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
monos: alone, remaining Cambridge calls it “a simple but sublime thought.” Matthew sets this alone against the disciples' aloneness on the water: one solitude is chosen and prayerful, the other imposed and terrified, and the second is watched over by the first.
24

but the boat was already far from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de to ploion apeichen ēdē pollous stadious apo tēs gēs basanizomenon hypo tōn kymatōn gar ho anemos ēn enantios

Word by word19 · parsed
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
πλοῖονploionboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounNominative Neuter Singular
ἀπεῖχενapeichenwasG568
√ ἀπέχω — (actively) to have out, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
apechō: to hold off, be distant Imperfect: the distance was a sustained condition. Barnes computes it from John: about four miles, and since the lake is not much more than ten miles broad, “they were literally in the midst of the sea.”
ἤδηēdēalreadyG2235
√ ἤδη — even nowAdverb
πολλοὺςpollousfarG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
σταδίουςstadious. . .G4712
√ στάδιον — a stade or certain measure of distanceNounAccusative Masculine Plural
stadion: a stade, a measure of distance A rare noun (7 verses). John 6:19 gives twenty-five or thirty stadia; Ellicott reckons that as nearly three fourths of the way across, which is his stated reason for rejecting any explanation that Jesus was walking on the shore or swimming.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆςgēslandG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
βασανιζόμενονbasanizomenonbuffetedG928
√ βασανίζω — to tortureVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
basanizō: to torture, to test by torment A relatively rare verb (12 verses), used of the demons' dread of torment and of the pains of childbirth. Matthew applies it to the boat itself; Pulpit notes that in Mark it is applied more strictly to the disciples. The vessel is on the rack, and the same word will not let us call this merely rough weather.
ὑπὸhypobyG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Plural
κυμάτωνkymatōnwavesG2949
√ κῦμα — a billow (as bursting or toppling)NounGenitive Neuter Plural
γὰρgarbecauseG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἄνεμοςanemoswindG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἦνēnwasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐναντίοςenantiosagainst itG1727
√ ἐναντίος — oppositeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
enantios: opposite, contrary With ἦν it is a settled state: the wind stood against them all night. Benson presses the point that they were exactly where Christ had sent them and the storm came anyway, unlike Jonah fleeing his commission.
25

During the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Tetartē phylakē tēs nyktos ēlthen pros autous peripatōn epi tēn thalassan

Word by word12 · parsed
δὲdevvvG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΤετάρτῃTetartēDuring the fourthG5067
√ τέταρτος — fourthAdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
φυλακῇphylakēwatchG5438
√ φυλακή — a guarding or (concretely, guard), the act, the personNounDative Feminine Singular
phylakē: a watch, a guarding The word for a military guard duty. Benson reads the timing pastorally: through “many tedious and distressing hours of storm and tempest,” Jesus saw them though they did not see him, and “he delayed all this time to go to their relief; seeing it proper so long to try their faith and patience.”
τῆςtēsof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
νυκτὸςnyktosnightG3571
√ νύξ — "night" (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἦλθενēlthen[Jesus] went outG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
erchomai: to come The single aorist that answers nine hours of rowing. Pulpit notes that the disciples had gone only about three and a half miles in that time, from John 6:19.
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
περιπατῶνperipatōnwalkingG4043
√ περιπατέω — to tread all around, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
peripateō: to walk about, tread around The pivot of the unit, repeated in verses 26 and 29 and shared with the Markan parallel. Benson preserves Doddridge's observation that feet walking on the sea served the Egyptians as a hieroglyph for an impossibility, and that Job 9:8 makes treading the waves the prerogative of God alone. Gill draws the conclusion directly: the act showed him “to be the Lord of the sea, and to be truly and properly God.”
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
θάλασσανthalassanseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
26

When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and cried out in fear.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hoi mathētai idontes auton peripatounta epi tēs thalassēs etarachthēsan estin Phantasma legontes hoti kai ekraxan apo tou phobou

Word by word19 · parsed
δὲdeWhenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἰδόντεςidontessawG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to Aorist participle. Gill is careful about the conditions: morning light, possibly moonlight, more light on water than on land, enough to discern a shape and not enough to identify it.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
περιπατοῦνταperipatountawalkingG4043
√ περιπατέω — to tread all around, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
θαλάσσηςthalassēsseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἐταράχθησανetarachthēsanthey were terrifiedG5015
√ ταράσσω — to stir or agitate (roil water)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
tarassō: to stir, agitate, roil water The same root that John uses of the troubled pool and of Jesus troubled in spirit. Here the deliverance itself is the thing that shakes them, which is Henry's precise observation: “even appearances of deliverance sometimes occasion trouble and perplexity to God's people, from mistakes about Christ.”
ἐστινestinIt’sG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΦάντασμάPhantasmaa ghostG5326
√ φάντασμα — (properly concrete) a (mere) show ("phantasm"), iNounNominative Neuter Singular
phantasma: an appearance, a phantom A very rare noun in the New Testament. The disciples reason correctly from nature (no human body is borne by water, as Benson puts it) and conclude wrongly about the person. Their error is not superstition alone but a failure to hold together what they had seen five loaves do that same afternoon, which is the reproach Mark records and Poole repeats.
λέγοντεςlegontesthey saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἔκραξανekraxancried outG2896
√ κράζω — properly, to "croak" (as a raven) or scream, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
krazō: to croak, to scream Matthew gives the same verb to the twelve here and to Peter alone in verse 30. Both cries come out of fear; only the second is addressed to anyone.
ἀπὸapoinG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
φόβουphoboufearG5401
√ φόβος — alarm or frightNounGenitive Masculine Singular
27

But Jesus spoke up at once: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Iēsous elalēsen autois Euthys legōn ho Tharseite eimi egō mē phobeisthe

Word by word12 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐλάλησενelalēsenspoke upG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
laleō: to talk, to utter He speaks rather than cries out, which Pulpit takes as evidence of nearness. The commentators note that the disciples knew the voice: Ellicott makes the recognition of “the familiar tones” the whole weight of the moment.
αὐτοῖςautois. . .G846
√ 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΕὐθὺςEuthysat onceG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
λέγωνlegōnG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΘαρσεῖτεTharseiteTake courageG2293
√ θαρσέω — to have courageVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
tharseō: to have courage A word of the sea and of the sickroom (Matthew 9:2). Pulpit's Septuagint note joins it to Exodus 14:13, where Moses says it to Israel with the sea in front and Egypt behind. The command comes before any change in the weather: nothing about the storm has altered when he says it.
εἰμιeimiIt isG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
eimi: I exist, I am (emphatic) With ἐγώ expressed the phrase is emphatic by construction, not merely by tone. The voices in this brief read it as recognition (“it is I, your Master, Saviour, and Redeemer,” Gill); the wider canonical resonance with the divine name is real but is our inference, not theirs, and we mark it as such in the Christ section.
ἐγώegōIG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
μὴmē[Do] notG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
φοβεῖσθεphobeisthebe afraidG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbPresent Imperative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
phobeō: to frighten, to be put in fear The same root as the noun φόβος in verse 26 and the verb ἐφοβήθη in verse 30. Matthew builds the whole passage on this one root: they fear, he forbids fear, Peter fears again, and only the worship of verse 33 ends it.
28

“Lord, if it is You,” Peter replied, “command me to come to You on the water.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kyrie ei ei sy de Petros Apokritheis eipen ho autō keleuson me elthein pros se epi ta hydata

Word by word18 · parsed
ΚύριεKyrieLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounVocative Masculine Singular
kyrios: supreme in authority, lord Vocative, and the first word out of Peter's mouth. He uses it again in verse 30 as the first word of the cry that saves him. Whatever the title meant to him at this hour, Matthew has him address the figure on the water with it before he has any proof.
εἰeiifG1487
√ εἰ — if, whether, that, etcConjunction
ei: if, since The conditional that the whole verse turns on. Grammatically a first-class condition assumes the protasis for argument; it neither asserts nor denies real doubt. Poole judges from the sequel that “his faith was not so strong as it should have been, after he had heard his Master's voice,” while Pulpit insists “no doubt is implied.” We record the disagreement rather than settle it.
εἶei[it] isG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
σὺsyYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Singular
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΠέτροςPetrosPeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἈποκριθεὶςApokritheisrepliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipen. . .G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὁho. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
αὐτῷautō. . .G846
√ 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
κέλευσόνkeleusoncommandG2753
√ κελεύω — "hail"VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
keleuō: to command, to order Aorist imperative addressed to Christ: Peter orders an order. This is the single grammatical fact that separates the request from the devil's “cast thyself down” at Matthew 4:6, and Pulpit builds his whole defence of Peter on it.
μεmemeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Singular
ἐλθεῖνeltheinto comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
σὲseYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 2nd Person Singular
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ὕδαταhydatawaterG5204
√ ὕδωρ — water (as if rainy) literally or figurativelyNounAccusative Neuter Plural
hydōr: water Plural here and in verse 29, against θάλασσα in verses 25 and 26. Matthew's shift of noun keeps Peter's walk verbally distinct from his Lord's even while the verb περιπατέω is shared.
29

“Come,” said Jesus. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Elthe de Ho eipen Kai Petros katabas apo tou ploiou ho periepatēsen epi ta hydata kai ēlthen pros ton Iēsoun

Word by word20 · parsed
ἘλθέEltheComeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
erchomai: to come (aorist imperative) A bare imperative with no promise attached. Henry reads the purpose in two parts: Christ bade Peter come “not only that he might walk upon the water, and so know his Lord's power, but that he might know his own weakness.”
δὲdevvvG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHovvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipensaid [Jesus]G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΠέτροςPetrosPeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounNominative Masculine Singular
καταβὰςkatabasgot down outG2597
√ καταβαίνω — to descend (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
katabainō: to descend The step over the gunwale is narrated in one participle and no more. Cambridge notes how close the boat was: “The hand of the Saviour was quite close to the sinking disciple.”
ἀπὸapoofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
πλοίουploiouboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounGenitive Neuter Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
περιεπάτησενperiepatēsenwalkedG4043
√ περιπατέω — to tread all around, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
peripateō: to walk about The verb that ties Peter to his Lord and, by the Verifier's shared lexeme, to the Markan parallel at Mark 6:49. Gill draws the distinction the shared verb could obscure: “Christ walked upon the water by his own power, as God; Peter walked upon the water, being held up by the power of Christ.” Gill also takes pains to deny that the Hebrew idiom for swimming is in view: Peter walked upright, and did not swim as at John 21:7.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τὰtatheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ὕδαταhydatawaterG5204
√ ὕδωρ — water (as if rainy) literally or figurativelyNounAccusative Neuter Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦλθενēlthencameG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
erchomai: to come On the preferred text this states the arrival as fact. Pulpit: “The true text states what did, in fact, happen, notwithstanding Peter's lack of faith.”
πρὸςprostowardG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
30

But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de blepōn ton ischyron anemon ephobēthē kai arxamenos katapontizesthai ekraxen legōn Kyrie sōson me

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
βλέπωνblepōnwhen he sawG991
√ βλέπω — to look at (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
blepō: to look at Present participle, sustained looking. Henry states the mechanism without machinery: “When we look off from Christ, and look at the greatness of opposing difficulties, we shall begin to fall.”
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἰσχυρὸνischyronstrengthG2478
√ ἰσχυρός — forcible (literally or figuratively)AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ischyros: forcible, strong Textually insecure (Ellicott, Pulpit). Nothing in the sense of the verse depends on it: the wind was already ἐναντίος in verse 24.
ἄνεμονanemonof the windG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἐφοβήθηephobēthēhe was afraidG5399
√ φοβέω — to frighten, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
phobeō: to be afraid Aorist passive, the same root Jesus had just forbidden in verse 27. Peter's fear is not a new thing but the old one returning after the command against it, which is what makes the rebuke of verse 31 measured rather than harsh.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀρξάμενοςarxamenosbeginningG756
√ ἄρχομαι — to commence (in order of time)VerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
καταποντίζεσθαιkatapontizesthaito sinkG2670
√ καταποντίζω — to plunge down, iVerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
katapontizō: to plunge down into the deep A rare verb, and its only other New Testament occurrence is Matthew 18:6, where the millstone sinks the offender in the depth of the sea. Matthew uses the word of judgment for what nearly swallows Peter, and then has the hand catch him. Pulpit gives the physics of faith: the natural tendency to sink “was counteracted before by his faith, which enabled him to receive Christ's power.”
ἔκραξενekraxencried outG2896
√ κράζω — properly, to "croak" (as a raven) or scream, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
λέγωνlegōnG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ΚύριεKyrieLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounVocative Masculine Singular
σῶσόνsōsonsaveG4982
√ σώζω — to save, iVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
sōzō: to save, to rescue whole Aorist imperative. Henry: “those who would be saved, must come to him, and cry to him, for salvation; we are never brought to this, till we find ourselves sinking: the sense of need drives us to him.”
μεmemeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 1st Person Singular
31

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and took hold of Peter. “You of little faith,” He said, “why did you doubt?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Eutheōs ho Iēsous ekteinas tēn cheira epelabeto autou Oligopiste kai legei autō eis ti edistasas

Word by word16 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΕὐθέωςEutheōsImmediatelyG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐκτείναςekteinasreached outG1614
√ ἐκτείνω — to extendVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ekteinō: to extend The arm goes out before the word of reproof. Pulpit: “Christ saves first, and rebukes afterwards.”
τὴνtēn[His]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
χεῖραcheirahandG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
ἐπελάβετοepelabeto[and] took holdG1949
√ ἐπιλαμβάνομαι — to seize (for help, injury, attainment, or any other purposeVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
epilambanomai: to seize, to take hold of for help A middle-voice grip. Pulpit's cross-reference to Hebrews 2:16 puts the same verb on the incarnation itself: he takes hold not of angels but of the seed of Abraham. Whether or not the writer to the Hebrews had this night in view, the verb is the same and the action is the same shape.
αὐτοῦautouof [Peter]G846
√ 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
ὈλιγόπιστεOligopiste[You] of little faithG3640
√ ὀλιγόπιστος — incredulous, iAdjectiveVocative Masculine Singular
oligopistos: of little faith A compound Matthew is fond of (Matthew 6:30). It is a rebuke that concedes the noun while shrinking the adjective, which is why Poole can say that doubting “will not conclude a soul to have no faith, only a little faith.” Benson specifies the object of the failure: Peter never doubted that it was Jesus, only that Jesus would hold him against a rising wind.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγειlegeiHe saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτῷautōG846
√ 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εἰςeiswhyG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τίti. . .G5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἐδίστασαςedistasasdid you doubtG1365
√ διστάζω — properly, to duplicate, iVerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
distazō: to stand in two places, to doubt Rare: two verses only. Its one other use is Matthew 28:17, where some worship the risen Christ and some doubt, on a mountain, at the end of this Gospel. Matthew appears to have kept the word for the two scenes in which worship and hesitation stand side by side.
32

And when they had climbed back into the boat, the wind died down.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autōn anabantōn eis to ploion ho anemos ekopasen

Word by word9 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτῶνautōnwhenG846
√ 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 Plural
ἀναβάντωνanabantōnthey had climbed backG305
√ ἀναβαίνω — to go up (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Plural
anabainō: to go up A genitive absolute, and the same verb as verse 23: what took him up the mountain to pray now takes the two of them up into the boat, with Peter's καταβάς of verse 29 as the descent in between. The Verifier finds the same lexeme in the Markan parallel at Mark 6:51, where the boarding and the calm are likewise joined in one clause. Matthew's ascents bracket the night, and the prayer at the top of the first one is the thing the men in the boat never saw.
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πλοῖονploionboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἄνεμοςanemoswindG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐκόπασενekopasendied downG2869
√ κοπάζω — to tire, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
kopazō: to grow weary, to cease Aorist, and coincident with his entry. Ellicott stresses that it “ceased as their Lord entered the boat”; Gill draws the inference that both the walking and the calm are one testimony, “both winds and sea obey him, who is Lord of both.” Ellicott also records Mark's addition that the disciples were astonished beyond measure, and Mark's reason for it: they had not understood about the loaves.
33

Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hoi en tō ploiō prosekynēsan autō legontes Alēthōs ei Huios Theou

Word by word12 · parsed
δὲdeThenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οἱhoithose who [were]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
πλοίῳploiōboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounDative Neuter Singular
προσεκύνησανprosekynēsanworshipedG4352
√ προσκυνέω — to fawn or crouch to, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
proskyneō: to prostrate, to do obeisance Matthew's chosen verb for what is owed to God and given to the Magi's child. Its other appearance with διστάζω, per the Verifier, is Matthew 28:17, the closing scene of the Gospel: they worshipped, but some doubted. The same two verbs, the same two responses, once in the storm and once before the risen Lord.
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ 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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λέγοντεςlegontessayingG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἈληθῶςAlēthōsTrulyG230
√ ἀληθῶς — trulyAdverb
alēthōs: truly The adverb that makes the sentence a verdict rather than a guess. Compare Poole's careful history: the miracles first earned veneration, then the title Son of David, then “that Prophet,” and now, for the first time, this.
εἶeiYou areG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosthe SonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
huios: son Anarthrous with Θεοῦ. Gill takes the full weight: Son “not by creation, as angels and men, nor by office, as magistrates, but by nature.” Pulpit will not go so far on this text alone. Both are reading the same two words; the difference is how much of later confession they let a night on the lake carry.
ΘεοῦTheouof GodG2316
√ θεός — figuratively, a magistrateNounGenitive Masculine Singular
theos: God Genitive and fronted before Υἱὸς, which is where the emphasis falls: it is whose son he is that the men in the boat have just decided.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The crown refused and the mountain climbed — 14:22-23

The unit opens on a verb of force. ἠνάγκασεν (ēnankasen, G315) is “he necessitated,” and the commentators split over who was resisting. Barnes holds that “there was no need of compulsion,” the word meaning simply “to command.” Poole reads it the other way: it is chosen “to denote to us that they were not very willing to go.” Gill supplies the motive, that the disciples shared the crowd's appetite for a bread-king and would have joined them. All of them get the background from the same place, John 6:14-15, which Matthew does not narrate: the crowd meant to seize him and make him king. Ellicott, marking it as his own reverent conjecture, hears in that moment “a renewal of the temptation in the wilderness.” What Matthew does narrate is the ascent: ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος, and Pulpit is insistent that κατ’ ἰδίαν attaches to the going up and not to the praying, so that the solitude is the road and not only the room. Benson refuses to let the prayer be ornamental: the sinless One had “many temptations to overcome, and unparalleled sufferings to endure.” Gill notes, from the Talmud and Maimonides, that praying on a height broke rabbinic rule; he reports it as background, and the point he draws is that Jesus did not hold himself bound by the traditions of the elders. Cambridge closes the movement in one line, calling it “a simple but sublime thought.”

ii. The tortured boat and the fourth watch — 14:24-27

Matthew does not say the boat was rocked. He says it was βασανιζόμενον (basanizomenon, G928), being put to the torture, and the waves stand in the sentence as the agents of it, ὑπὸ τῶν κυμάτων. Ellicott glosses the word “vexed, or tormented”; Cambridge, “writhing in throes of agony, as it were”; Pulpit says it “suggests not physical motion, but pain and anguish.” Three independent voices, one verdict, and the English “buffeted” below the mark. They are exactly where he sent them, which is the thing Benson will not let pass: unlike Jonah in his storm, they had “a special command from their Master to go to sea at this time,” and the wind was contrary anyway. For nine hours. Benson notes that he saw them the whole while and “delayed all this time to go to their relief.” Then the dative of time, τετάρτῃ φυλακῇ, which Ellicott places between three and six in the morning and Barnes traces to a Roman fourfold division the Jews had adopted. He comes walking, περιπατῶν, and Benson preserves Doddridge's two observations: that feet on the sea were an Egyptian hieroglyph for the impossible, and that Job 9:8 reserves treading the waves to God. Gill says it outright: the act showed him “to be truly and properly God.” The disciples' response is the verb of roiled water applied to men, ἐταράχθησαν, and a scream, and a wrong noun: φάντασμα, which Ellicott corrects from “spirit” to “phantom, or spectre,” Benson to “apparition.” Gill fills in what such a night meant to first-century men, reporting the rabbinic night-demons and Lilith as the furniture of their fear. Against all of it comes one sentence, and Pulpit notices that Jesus spoke it rather than shouted, ἐλάλησεν and not ἔκραξεν: he was already near. Θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ εἰμι, μὴ φοβεῖσθε. Pulpit supplies the philology that matters most here: the Septuagint “commonly translates ‘fear ye not’ by θαρσεῖτε (e.g. Exodus 14:13; Exodus 20:20).” Ellicott says the three clauses “became the watchword of their lives.”

iii. The one who asked for an order — 14:28-31

Matthew alone tells this, and Cambridge says so plainly: “St Matthew alone narrates St Peter's endeavour to walk on the sea.” Ellicott offers a reason worth weighing and impossible to verify, that it “may have been one which the Apostle did not willingly recall,” and so dropped out of Mark, who was his disciple. Peter's request has a grammatical hinge in it: he does not ask to walk, he asks to be commanded, κέλευσόν με. Pulpit builds his whole defence on that word: “In this lies the difference, and it is a decisive difference, from the second temptation,” where the devil said cast thyself down. Benson calls it “a rash request, proceeding from the warmth and forwardness of Peter's natural temper”; Barnes, harsher, says he “had less real faith than he supposed, and more ardor than his faith would justify”; Ellicott, more exactly, “eager but not steadfast, daring and yet fearful.” The answer is one word, Ἐλθέ, and Pulpit insists it is a command and “not merely a permission.” Then the failure, and the Greek is precise about its mechanism: βλέπων is a present participle, a sustained looking at the wind, and Henry states the consequence without machinery, that when we look off from Christ at opposing difficulties “we shall begin to fall.” The verb for what began is καταποντίζεσθαι (G2670), to be plunged into the deep, which the Verifier finds in only two New Testament verses. Benson: “he felt himself sinking with such a weight that he had no hope of recovering himself.” The rescue is two verbs and no delay, ἐκτείνας and ἐπελάβετο, the second a middle-voice seizure for help that Pulpit connects to Hebrews 2:16. Pulpit's summary of the order of events is the whole pastoral point: “Christ saves first, and rebukes afterwards.” And the rebuke itself concedes what it reduces: Gill notes that he does not say “O thou unbeliever!” but ὀλιγόπιστε, and Poole that doubting “will not conclude a soul to have no faith, only a little faith.” Benson specifies what Peter doubted: not that it was Jesus, for he had called to him, but that Jesus would hold him against a rising wind.

iv. The wind grows weary, and the boat confesses — 14:32-33

Poole reads the plural genitive absolute carefully: “They, that is, Christ and Peter, whom we must suppose to have walked some way with Christ upon the sea,” and Pulpit agrees that Peter may have walked on further, upheld by the hand. The wind does not stop; ἐκόπασεν (G2869) is from a root meaning to tire. Ellicott notes how abnormal the suddenness was, since these squalls usually “died away gradually, and left the waves rough,” whereas here it “ceased as their Lord entered the boat.” Gill puts the two miracles side by side: he walked while it blew, he entered and it was calm, “both winds and sea obey him, who is Lord of both.” Then the confession, and here the sourced voices genuinely disagree and we leave them disagreeing. Ellicott thinks οἱ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ marks out the crew or chance passengers rather than the Twelve, so that strangers “anticipated the faith even of the foremost of the disciples.” Gill takes Θεοῦ Υἱὸς at full strength, Son “not by creation, as angels and men, nor by office, as magistrates, but by nature.” Pulpit, noting the missing article against the definite forms at Matthew 16:16 and Matthew 26:63, holds that the words mean more than moral relation and still are “not even so a profession of faith in his absolute Divinity.” Poole traces the ladder they have been climbing: veneration, then Son of David, then that Prophet, and now this, “but it was far from a steady faith as to that point.” Henry ends where the unit ends: “the disciples yield to the evidence, and confess their faith.”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Our own fallible reading, offered to be tested. Matthew has built this night on one root, φοβ-: they fear a phantom (v. 26), he forbids fear (v. 27), Peter fears the wind (v. 30). The cure is not a change in the weather. Notice the sequence, because it is the argument. The wind does not drop when he speaks. It does not drop when Peter walks. It does not drop when the hand takes hold. It grows weary only in v. 32, after everything that matters has already happened. So the object of faith in this passage is never calm conditions; it is a person present in conditions that stay bad. That is why the request in v. 28 is so carefully worded, and Pulpit is right to hang everything on it: Peter does not ask for a miracle, he asks for a command, κέλευσόν με. Faith here is not confidence in one's own buoyancy but the willingness to step on nothing but a word. And when it fails, it fails by a present participle: βλέπων, a steady looking at the wind, not a glance. The correction is equally exact. He is called ὀλιγόπιστε, little-faith-one, a name that keeps the noun and shrinks only the adjective, and the hand is out before the name is spoken. What Matthew appears to be teaching, and what we hold loosely because he does not say it, is that the sinking is not the end of faith but its education: Henry's line, that we are never brought to cry for salvation “till we find ourselves sinking,” reads the story the way the story reads. Two further observations we mark as ours and not the commentators'. First, the two rarest words in the unit both look forward in Matthew's own Gospel: καταποντίζω reappears only at Matthew 18:6, of the millstone, so that the deep which nearly takes Peter is elsewhere the instrument of judgment on those who make little ones stumble, and he is pulled out of it; διστάζω reappears only at Matthew 28:17, where they worship and some doubt, and where a mountain, worship and hesitation stand together exactly as they do here. Second, ἐγώ εἰμι. The voices in this brief read it as recognition, “it is I, your Master” (Gill), and that is plainly the surface sense and probably all the disciples heard. But it is also the plainest Greek there is for the name God gave at the bush, spoken by a man treading the sea, which Job 9:8 says God alone does, and answered in the boat by προσκύνησις. We do not claim Matthew wrote it as a divine self-naming. We claim the pieces are all on the table and the men in the boat drew the conclusion we would draw.

The wind does not drop until verse 32, which means faith here was never asked to trust the weather. (This line is our own fallible synthesis, not a verse of Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The synoptic parallel: the same night in Mark's telling verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 6:45-52 narrates the identical night, and the Verifier finds the shared vocabulary dense at every point: Mark 6:45 carries ἀναγκάζω (G315) and ἐμβαίνω (G1684) for the constraining and the embarking, Mark 6:48 carries ἄνεμος (G417), ἐναντίος (G1727) and βασανίζω (G928) for the headwind and the torture, and Mark 6:49 carries περιπατέω and θάλασσα for the walking on the sea. Cambridge, Pulpit and JFB all cite the parallel; JFB in fact declines to expound Matthew here at all, referring the reader to John 6:15-24. What Mark has that Matthew lacks is the note Pulpit and Ellicott both quote, that Jesus “would have passed by them,” and Mark's own explanation of the disciples' astonishment: they considered not the loaves, for their heart was hardened. What Matthew has that Mark lacks is Peter, and Cambridge states the fact plainly: “St Matthew alone narrates St Peter's endeavour to walk on the sea.”

Mark 6:45 · Mark 6:48 · Mark 6:49 · Mark 6:51

basis: Verifier: Greek to Greek, shared lexemes across the parallel, including the comparatively rare G1727 ἐναντίος (in 8 vv), G928 βασανίζω (in 12 vv), G315 ἀναγκάζω (in 9 vv) and G1684 ἐμβαίνω (in 16 vv), alongside G417 ἄνεμος (29), G4143 πλοῖον (62), G4043 περιπατέω (88), G2281 θάλασσα (83). The concentration of low-frequency lexemes in a single narrative sequence is literary dependence, not coincidence.

καταποντίζω: the deep that swallows, and the hand that does not let it verbal / quotation: confirmed

The verb for what began to happen to Peter, καταποντίζεσθαι (katapontizesthai, G2670), is not the ordinary word for sinking. The Verifier finds it in two verses in the whole New Testament, here and at Matthew 18:6, where it would be better for the man who causes a little one to stumble that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Benson feels the weight of it here without the cross-reference: Peter “felt himself sinking with such a weight that he had no hope of recovering himself.” ⚙ We note the coincidence of vocabulary and let it stand as vocabulary: Matthew's one other use of the word is judicial, and in this chapter the man going down into that depth is caught by the hand before he reaches it. We do not claim Matthew intended the echo.

Matthew 18:6

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2670 καταποντίζω, in 2 verses only in the New Testament (Matthew 14:30 and Matthew 18:6). Both refs are Matthew, so the verbal link is within one author's vocabulary. Rarity establishes the verbal link; the theological reading of it is our inference and is marked as such.

διστάζω and προσκυνέω: this night and the mountain at the end of the Gospel verbal / quotation: confirmed

Matthew closes his Gospel with a scene built from the two verbs of this one. At Matthew 28:17 the eleven see the risen Christ, προσεκύνησαν (G4352), but some ἐδίστασαν (G1365). The Verifier finds διστάζω in only two verses in the New Testament: Matthew 14:31 and Matthew 28:17. Both are Matthew's. Strong's root sense of the verb is “properly, to duplicate,” and Gill glosses it here as being “divided between faith and fear.” Pulpit likewise notes that the verb occurs “in the New Testament, Matthew 28:17 only” besides this place. ⚙ The pattern we observe, offered as observation: in both scenes the worship and the wavering are simultaneous and in the same people, and in neither does Christ withdraw on account of the wavering.

Matthew 28:17

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G1365 διστάζω (in 2 vv only, both Matthew) and G4352 προσκυνέω (in 54 vv). The rarity of διστάζω carries the verbal tier; προσκυνέω is common and adds motif, not proof. Both refs are New Testament, so no cross-Testament bar applies.

The other storm in the same boat structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew has already told a storm story, at Matthew 8:23-27, and Mark tells it at Mark 4:37-39. The furniture is identical: πλοῖον, ἄνεμος, θάλασσα, and in both a rebuke about faith. Benson draws the contrast the disciples themselves would have drawn: “it was a great discouragement to the disciples, that now they had not Christ with them, as they had formerly when they were in a storm: for though he was then asleep, he was soon waked.” Pulpit, comparing Matthew 8:27 with this verse 33, marks the difference in the outcome: “In Matthew 8:27 we read of wonder; here, of homage.” ⚙ Our own note: the progression is not in the storms but in what the men say afterward, from “what manner of man is this” to “truly you are God's Son.”

Matthew 8:24 · Matthew 8:26 · Mark 4:37 · Mark 4:39

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4143 πλοῖον (in 62 vv), G417 ἄνεμος (in 29 vv), G2281 θάλασσα (in 83 vv), G5259 ὑπό (in 200 vv). All are common words, so the shared vocabulary confirms a shared scene-type rather than a quotation; tiered structural deliberately, and the comparison of Matthew 8:27 with 14:33 is Pulpit's, recorded.

He alone treads on the waves of the sea typological

Two independent voices in this brief send the reader to the same Old Testament verse. Benson, quoting Doddridge: “in the Scripture it is mentioned, as the prerogative of God, that he alone treadeth on the waves of the sea, Job 9:8.” Gill, independently: he showed himself “to be truly and properly God; whose character is, that he ‘treadeth upon the waves of the sea’, Job 9:8.” Henry says the same thing without the citation: “none but its Governor could tread upon the waters of the sea.” The link cannot be a verbal one in the technical sense, because Job is Hebrew and Matthew is Greek and no Strong's number can be shared across them. What can be said is that a divine prerogative stated in Job is performed in Matthew without comment, and that the men who watched it performed responded with προσκύνησις and the words Θεοῦ Υἱὸς.

Job 9:8

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek), so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and no verbal tier is available. The basis is a figural reading attested independently by Gill and by Benson quoting Doddridge, with Henry concurring in substance: a divine prerogative predicated in Job 9:8 is enacted in Matthew 14:25. Ancient and widely held, not novel to us.

θαρσεῖτε at the edge of the sea structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit supplies a philological fact we did not have to invent: “the LXX. commonly translates ‘fear ye not’ by θαρσεῖτε (e.g. Exodus 14:13; Exodus 20:20).” At Exodus 14:13 Moses says it to a people trapped between Pharaoh and the water. ⚙ The resonance we draw is ours: the Greek Old Testament's word of courage at the sea is the word spoken on the sea, before the sea is dealt with. Benson, unprompted by any Greek, reaches for the same episode from the other direction: “in the morning watch he appeared for Israel in the Red sea, troubled and dismayed their pursuing enemies, and delivered his people.” Two watches of the night, two deliverances at water, one vocabulary in the Greek Bible.

Exodus 14:13 · Exodus 20:20

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek New Testament to Hebrew Exodus), so no shared Strong's number exists and the verbal tier is barred. The confirmed element is Pulpit's recorded observation about Septuagint usage of θαρσεῖτε at these two Exodus verses, plus Benson's independent appeal to the morning watch at the Red Sea. The motif link is a real shared pattern of deliverance at water; no quotation is claimed.

The hand that takes hold structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit, commenting on ἐπελάβετο in verse 31, sends the reader to two verses in Hebrews: “and took hold of him (Revised Version, ἐπελάβετο αὐτοῦ: cf. Hebrews 2:16; Hebrews 8:9).” At Hebrews 2:16 the same verb says that he does not take hold of angels but takes hold of the seed of Abraham; at Hebrews 8:9 it is God taking Israel by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. ⚙ We observe, without claiming that the writer to the Hebrews had this night in view, that the verb describing the incarnation and the exodus is the verb Matthew uses for a hand closing on a drowning man.

Hebrews 2:16 · Hebrews 8:9

basis: The cross-reference is Pulpit's own, recorded verbatim in the brief, and the shared lexeme is G1949 ἐπιλαμβάνομαι, Greek to Greek. The Verifier supplied no frequency for this lexeme, so we make no rarity claim and do not tier it verbal; the link is a shared word used in a shared pattern of rescuing grasp.

The waves as agents: Jude and the shipwreck of Acts structural / thematic: confirmed

κῦμα (kyma, G2949), the billow that tortures the boat in verse 24, is a rare noun: the Verifier finds it in five verses. Two of them are Jude 1:13, where false teachers are “wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame,” and Acts 27:41, where the stern of Paul's ship is broken by the violence of the waves. Acts 27:4 also shares the uncommon ἐναντίος (G1727, 8 verses) of the contrary wind. ⚙ We flag our own caution here rather than press the link: rarity of a noun is not evidence of allusion when the noun is simply the ordinary word for the thing, and there is nothing in Jude or Acts 27 that points back at this night. We record the shared vocabulary and decline to build on it.

Jude 1:13 · Acts 27:4 · Acts 27:41

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2949 κῦμα (in 5 vv) and G1727 ἐναντίος (in 8 vv), Greek to Greek. Both are low-frequency, which would ordinarily support a verbal tier, but the shared words are the ordinary nautical vocabulary and no quotation or deliberate echo is in view. Deliberately downgraded to structural, and the limitation is stated in the body.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one who treads the waves ancient/widely-held

The verse the commentators reach for is Job 9:8, where God alone treads upon the high places of the sea, and they reach for it independently. Gill: the act showed him “to be the Lord of the sea, and to be truly and properly God.” Benson, quoting Doddridge, notes both the Job text and the Egyptian use of feet on water as a hieroglyph for the impossible. Henry states it as a pair with the previous miracle: “None but the world's Creator could multiply the loaves, none but its Governor could tread upon the waters of the sea.” Ellicott, refusing the rationalizing alternatives of his own century, puts the choice bluntly: “Here, again, we have to choose between the simple acceptance of the supernatural fact as another instance of His sovereignty, or rejecting it as a legend.” ⚙ Matthew's sequence makes the same claim structurally rather than by assertion: creation's Lord feeds the multitude at evening and walks the deep at dawn, and Matthew supplies no explanation for either. The link cannot be tiered verbal, since Job is Hebrew and Matthew Greek, but the predication is the same and the reading is ancient.

Job 9:8 · Matthew 14:25

The hand out before the word: how this Christ corrects ancient/widely-held

The order of the verbs in verse 31 is the gospel in miniature, and Pulpit states it in five words: “Christ saves first, and rebukes afterwards.” The hand is stretched out (ἐκτείνας) and the grip closes (ἐπελάβετο, middle voice, a seizure for help) before ὀλιγόπιστε is spoken. Even the rebuke is calibrated: Gill observes that “he does not say, O thou unbeliever! or, O thou who hast no faith! for some faith he had, though but small,” and Ellicott says he was “unwilling even here to quench the smoking flax,” which is Isaiah's language for the Servant. Pulpit's cross-reference at the same verb reaches Hebrews 2:16, where what Christ takes hold of is not angels but the seed of Abraham. ⚙ We read the night as a compressed picture of the whole work: a man is called out onto ground that will not bear him, he is upheld while he looks at the one who called him, he goes down when he looks elsewhere, and he is held before he is corrected. Henry draws the same shape and adds where it lands: “we are never brought to this, till we find ourselves sinking: the sense of need drives us to him.”

Matthew 14:31 · Hebrews 2:16 · Isaiah 42:3

ἐγώ εἰμι on the water: what we claim and what we do not novel

⚙ This entry is marked novel because the sourced voices in this brief do not make the claim. Benson glosses the words “Your Lord and Master”; Gill, “it is I, your Master, Saviour, and Redeemer, and not any hurtful spirit”; Ellicott rests the whole comfort on the disciples' recognition of “the familiar tones.” That is the surface sense and very likely what the men in the boat heard. What we observe is the convergence of the circumstances: the speaker is doing what Job 9:8 reserves to God, he says ἐγώ εἰμι with the pronoun expressed, the storm obeys him on his entry, and the response is προσκύνησις with the words Θεοῦ Υἱὸς. Ellicott notes that these worshippers may have been the crew and passengers rather than the Twelve, strangers who “anticipated the faith even of the foremost of the disciples.” We do not claim Matthew wrote ἐγώ εἰμι as the divine name, and we note honestly that Pulpit holds the confession in verse 33, lacking the article, falls short of “a profession of faith in his absolute Divinity,” while Gill holds it is Sonship “by nature.” We set the two readings side by side in the verse notes and leave the reader to test ours against both.

Matthew 14:27 · Matthew 14:33 · Exodus 3:14

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text. Three places in this unit have variants the sourced voices record, and we have not smoothed them. (1) Verse 24: the interlinear before us reads πολλοὺς σταδίους ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, “many stadia from the land,” which Pulpit reports as the reading Westcott and Hort prefer with Codex B and the Old Syriac; the Received and Revised text reads “in the midst of the sea,” which is what Barnes and Gill are expounding. (2) Verse 30: ἰσχυρόν, “strong,” is textually insecure. Ellicott: “The adjective is wanting in the best MSS.” Pulpit: “clearly a gloss, and therefore omitted by the Revised Version.” Nothing in the sense depends on it. (3) Verse 29: the Received text's “to go to Jesus” against the preferred “and came to Jesus,” which changes whether Peter arrived. The interlinear has ἦλθεν, the indicative, and Pulpit prefers it. Verse 27's θαρσεῖτε is absent from John 6:20 and, Pulpit adds, from one or two second-rate manuscripts of Mark and from Tatian's Diatessaron.

Sources. JFB has no exposition of this passage at all: every JFB entry in the brief refers the reader to John 6:15-24, so no JFB voice is cited in this unit, and that absence is a fact about the source, not an oversight. The Maclaren entry at verse 29 and the Benson entry at verse 28 are both capped in the brief (Maclaren by over 6,000 characters); our excerpts are taken from the visible portion only. Henry's entry is a single block covering 14:22-33 and is identical under every verse heading, so it is cited once. Geneva's entries are largely the verse text plus a short numbered gloss.

What is uncertain. The commentators disagree, and we have kept the disagreements visible rather than choosing: whether ἠνάγκασεν implies unwilling disciples (Poole and Gill, yes; Barnes, no); whether Peter's εἰ σὺ εἶ carries doubt (Pulpit and Benson, no; Poole and Gill, yes); whether the request was rash (Benson and Barnes) or an act of obedient love (Pulpit); whether οἱ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ means the crew and passengers (Ellicott) or chiefly the disciples (Pulpit); and how much the anarthrous Θεοῦ Υἱὸς confesses (Gill, full deity by nature; Pulpit, messianic recognition short of that). Gill's rabbinic material, on prayer in high places and on night-demons, is reported by him from the Talmud and Maimonides as background; it is not Scripture and he is not endorsing it. Benson's Egyptian hieroglyph is Doddridge's antiquarian claim and we have not verified it. The Aphraates saying Pulpit quotes at verse 30 is explicitly an apocryphal agraphon, cited from Resch, and carries no scriptural authority. Every synthesis paragraph marked ⚙ is our own fallible reading, including the ἐγώ εἰμι entry in the Christ section, which is marked novel precisely because the voices in this brief do not make that claim.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)