The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Matthew16:5–12

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 16:5–12 — The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 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.

5

When they crossed to the other side, the disciples forgot to take bread.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai elthontes eis to peran hoi mathētai epelathonto labein artous

Word by word10 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐλθόντεςelthontesthey crossedG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
érchomai: to come or go Aorist participle, nominative masculine plural, binding the forgetting to the act of crossing rather than to the shore.
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
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἐπελάθοντοepelathontoforgotG1950
√ ἐπιλανθάνομαι — to lose out of mindVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
epilanthánomai: to lose out of mind A compound of ἐπί and λανθάνομαι, literally to let a thing slip from memory. Matthew's charge of forgetfulness here is the hinge of the whole unit: the men who forgot the loaves are about to be asked whether they remember the loaves (v. 9, μνημονεύετε), and it is memory, not cleverness, that the Lord demands. Poole names this precisely, listing forgetfulness as the third fault alongside ignorance and unbelief, and calling it in Scripture the mother of unbelief.
λαβεῖνlabeinto takeG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Infinitive Active
lambánō: to take, receive Aorist infinitive of a very common verb (243 verses), yet the verb that will indict them: they failed to take one loaf, having twice taken up baskets of surplus.
ἄρτουςartousbreadG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ártos: bread as raised, a loaf Strong's gloss is exact: ἄρτος is bread as raised, that is, bread with ζύμη already in it. The unit's whole misunderstanding sits inside that one word, because the disciples hear ζύμη as an ingredient of ἄρτος while the Lord means ζύμη as the character of a teaching. Gill adds the practical note that the twelve normally bought food ahead because Jesus often went into deserted and hilly places.
6

“Watch out!” Jesus told them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Horate de ho Iēsous eipen autois kai prosechete apo tēs zymēs tōn Pharisaiōn kai Saddoukaiōn

Word by word15 · parsed
ὉρᾶτεHorateWatch outG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
horáō: to see, to attend to Present imperative plural. Strong’s gloss extends the verb of sight to “attend to,” and that extension carries the weight here: the command is to keep the eyes open, and the men who receive it are about to prove blind to the thing in front of them. Mark’s form of this same rebuke presses exactly that (having eyes, see ye not), as Poole quotes it, and Matthew has already laid the charge of unseeing eyes against the crowds at 13:13.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipentoldG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ 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
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
προσέχετεprosecheteBewareG4337
√ προσέχω — (figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
proséchō: to hold the mind toward Strong's parses the compound as holding the νοῦς (mind) toward something; with ἀπό the mind is held away. Notice what follows: their minds are in fact held toward bread, so the command is disobeyed in the very next verse by men who think they are obeying a food regulation. The same imperative is repeated in v. 11 and becomes the infinitive προσέχειν in v. 12, framing the unit.
ἀπὸapoofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ζύμηςzymēsleavenG2219
√ ζύμη — ferment (as if boiling up)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
zýmē: ferment, as if boiling up A rare noun (11 verses). Its Old Testament background is the Passover purge, where leaven is put out of the house and banished from the offerings, which is why the figure carries corruption here while the same figure in Matthew 13:33 carries the silent spread of the kingdom. The one constant is not moral valence but penetration: a little changes the whole lump.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαίωνPharisaiōnPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
Pharisaîos: a separatist Gill specifies the content of their leaven as the commandments and inventions of men, the traditions of the elders, free will, and justification by works of the law.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΣαδδουκαίωνSaddoukaiōnSadduceesG4523
√ Σαδδουκαῖος — a Sadducæan (iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
Saddoukaîos: a Sadducee Rare (14 verses). Poole, citing Acts 23:8, names their doctrine: no resurrection, no angel, no spirit. Pharisee and Sadducee are here yoked under one article and one leaven, which means the Lord is not warning against a party but against a way of handling God, whether by added tradition or by subtracted hope.
7

They discussed this among themselves and concluded, “It is because we did not bring any bread.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hoi dielogizonto en heautois legontes Hoti ouk elabomen Artous

Word by word10 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
διελογίζοντοdielogizontoThey discussed thisG1260
√ διαλογίζομαι — to reckon thoroughly, iVerbImperfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
dialogízomai: to reckon thoroughly Imperfect middle or passive, third plural. A relatively uncommon verb (15 verses) and the word Mark uses in the parallel rebuke. Its repetition in v. 8 makes the structure of the scene plain: their reckoning is overheard and named before it is answered, so the fault exposed is not that they spoke but what they reckoned with.
ἐνenamongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἑαυτοῖςheautoisthemselvesG1438
√ ἑαυτοῦ — him- (her-, it-, them-, also (in conjunction with the personal pronoun of the other persons) my-, thy-, our-, your-) self (selves), etcReflexive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
heautoû: themselves Reflexive dative; the deliberation circles inside the group, with the One who fed thousands sitting in it.
λέγοντεςlegontes[and] concludedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ὍτιHoti[It is] becauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
hóti: that, because Ambiguous between cause and quotation, and Gill's note on the supplied words “it is” turns on that ambiguity.
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐλάβομενelabomenwe did not bringG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Indicative Active1st Person Plural
ἌρτουςArtous[any] breadG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ártos: a loaf Accusative plural, thrown forward in the clause for emphasis: loaves are what they did not take, and loaves are all they can think about.
8

Aware of their conversation, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you debating among yourselves about having no bread?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Gnous ho Iēsous eipen oligopistoi Ti dialogizesthe en heautois hoti echete ouk artous

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΓνοὺςGnousAware [of their conversation]G1097
√ γινώσκω — to "know" (absolutely) in a great variety of applications and with many implications (as follow, with others not thus clearly expressed)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ginṓskō: to know Aorist participle of the broad verb of knowing. Matthew gives no means of knowledge, and the commentators divide honestly: Pulpit allows that He may have overheard, while Geneva and Gill read it as divine knowledge of the heart. Either way the narrative effect is the same, that the private circle of v. 7 was never private.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipensaidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ὀλιγόπιστοιoligopistoi[You] of little faithG3640
√ ὀλιγόπιστος — incredulous, iAdjectiveVocative Masculine Plural
oligópistos: of little faith A rare compound (ὀλίγος plus πίστις) used in the Gospels as a direct address. Gill and Pulpit both note its other occurrences, Matthew 6:30 on the grass of the field and Matthew 8:26 in the storm, which locates this rebuke in a settled pattern: anxiety about supply, and fear in danger, are treated by Christ as the same small faith. Ellicott adds the sharp point that He reproves not their dullness at the figure but their distrust.
ΤίTiwhyG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
διαλογίζεσθεdialogizestheare you debatingG1260
√ διαλογίζομαι — to reckon thoroughly, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
dialogízomai: to reckon thoroughly Present tense now, catching them mid-reckoning.
ἐνenamongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ἑαυτοῖςheautoisyourselvesG1438
√ ἑαυτοῦ — him- (her-, it-, them-, also (in conjunction with the personal pronoun of the other persons) my-, thy-, our-, your-) self (selves), etcReflexive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ὅτιhotiaboutG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἔχετεechetehavingG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
échō: to hold, to have Their premise, “we do not have,” is the one word that will be dismantled by the two arithmetic questions that follow.
οὐκouknoG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἄρτουςartousbreadG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
9

Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oupō noeite oude mnēmoneuete tous pente artous tōn pentakischiliōn kai posous kophinous elabete

Word by word13 · parsed
οὔπωoupōvvvG3768
√ οὔπω — not yetAdverb
oúpō: not yet The temporal reproach: they have had time and evidence enough.
νοεῖτεnoeiteDo you still not understandG3539
√ νοιέω — to exercise the mind (observe), iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
noiéō: to exercise the mind, observe Present indicative, second plural. The verb is repeated in v. 11 and answered in v. 12 by συνῆκαν, so the unit traces a movement from mind not working, through mind rebuked, to mind put together. Pulpit ties the question to Matthew 15:16, where the same charge of being without understanding was made days before.
οὐδὲoudevvvG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iConjunction
μνημονεύετεmnēmoneueteDo you not rememberG3421
√ μνημονεύω — to exercise memory, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
mnēmoneúō: to exercise memory Memory here is not nostalgia but evidence handling: the five loaves and the twelve baskets are data about who is in the boat. Poole lists forgetfulness as one of three faults charged here, and calls it in Scripture the mother of unbelief, citing Deuteronomy 4:9 and Psalm 78:11. Benson presses the arithmetic: He who fed five thousand cannot be at a loss to provide a meal for twelve.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
πέντεpentefiveG4002
√ πέντε — "five"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
τῶνtōnfor theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
πεντακισχιλίωνpentakischiliōnfive thousandG4000
√ πεντακισχίλιοι — five times a thousandAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πόσουςposoushow manyG4214
√ πόσος — interrogative pronoun (of amount) how much (large, long or (plural) many)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Masculine Plural
κοφίνουςkophinousbasketfulsG2894
√ κόφινος — a (small) basketNounAccusative Masculine Plural
kóphinos: a small basket A rare noun. Its pairing with σπυρίς in v. 10 is the strongest internal evidence in Matthew that two distinct feedings are in view, since the Lord Himself keeps the two receptacles apart in the same breath.
ἐλάβετεelabeteyou gatheredG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
lambánō: to take up Aorist, “you took up,” the same verb they used in v. 7 to say what they had not taken.
10

Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oude tous hepta artous tōn tetrakischiliōn kai posas spyridas elabete

Word by word10 · parsed
οὐδὲoude[Or]G3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iConjunction
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ἑπτὰheptasevenG2033
√ ἑπτά — sevenAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
heptá: seven Seven loaves and seven hampers, against five loaves and twelve baskets in v. 9. The asymmetry of the two ledgers is precisely why the Lord cites both.
ἄρτουςartousloavesG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounAccusative Masculine Plural
τῶνtōnfor theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
τετρακισχιλίωνtetrakischiliōnfour thousandG5070
√ τετρακισχίλιοι — four times a thousandAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πόσαςposashow manyG4214
√ πόσος — interrogative pronoun (of amount) how much (large, long or (plural) many)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Feminine Plural
σπυρίδαςspyridasbasketfulsG4711
√ σπυρίς — a hamper or lunch-receptacleNounAccusative Feminine Plural
spyrís: a hamper, lunch receptacle One of the rarest nouns in the unit (5 verses), and the strongest verbal link to Mark 8:20, where the same word stands in the same question. Pulpit calls it wilful perversity to treat the two feedings as versions of one story when the Lord Himself disjoins them by the receptacles, though that charge is his polemic against nineteenth century critics, not an argument from the Greek.
ἐλάβετεelabeteyou gatheredG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
lambánō: to take up Repeated verbatim from v. 9, closing the second ledger line with the same word as the first.
11

How do you not understand that I was not telling you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

pōs ou noeite hoti ou eipon hymin peri artōn de prosechete apo tēs zymēs tōn Pharisaiōn kai Saddoukaiōn

Word by word18 · parsed
πῶςpōsHowG4459
√ πῶς — an interrogative particle of mannerAdverb
pôs: in what manner An interrogative of manner, which Geneva glosses as a demand joined with wonder.
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
νοεῖτεnoeitedo you not understandG3539
√ νοιέω — to exercise the mind (observe), iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
noiéō: to exercise the mind The second of the two mind questions (v. 9, v. 11), and the last word of rebuke before the imperative is simply repeated. Pulpit reads the fault as moral rather than intellectual: they had heard His manner of teaching often enough that failure to think was culpable, and adds that a well instructed Hebrew, whose Scriptures are full of metaphor, should have had no difficulty here.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
εἶπονeiponI was not telling youG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active1st Person Singular
épō: to speak or say Aorist, first person singular; the negative denies the subject matter of the saying, not the saying.
ὑμῖνhymin. . .G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
περὶperiaboutG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
ἄρτωνartōnbreadG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounGenitive Masculine Plural
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
προσέχετεprosechetebewareG4337
√ προσέχω — (figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
proséchō: to hold the mind away from The command comes back unchanged and unexplained. This is the structural centre of the unit: no new content is added in v. 11, and yet v. 12 records that they understood, which means the understanding came from the rebuke and the remembering, not from further information.
ἀπὸapoofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ζύμηςzymēsleavenG2219
√ ζύμη — ferment (as if boiling up)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
zýmē: ferment Still unexplained at this point in the text; its meaning is disclosed only in the narrator's comment in v. 12.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαίωνPharisaiōnPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΣαδδουκαίωνSaddoukaiōnSadduceesG4523
√ Σαδδουκαῖος — a Sadducæan (iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
12

Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tote synēkan hoti ouk eipen prosechein apo tēs zymēs tōn artōn alla apo tēs didachēs tōn Pharisaiōn kai Saddoukaiōn

Word by word19 · parsed
ΤότεToteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
συνῆκανsynēkanthey understoodG4920
√ συνίημι — to put together, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
syníēmi: to put together, to comprehend Aorist indicative. The verb of assembling pieces into sense; Cambridge marks it as the word for spiritual intelligence in particular. Matthew does not say Jesus explained; he says they put it together, so the text credits understanding to rebuke plus memory. Pulpit records Chrysostom's judgment that the reproof itself did the work, delivering them from want of faith so that they were no longer alarmed at having few loaves.
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
εἶπενeipenHe was not telling [them]G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
προσέχεινprosecheinto bewareG4337
√ προσέχω — (figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
proséchō: to hold the mind away from Present infinitive now, in indirect speech, the third appearance of the command in eight verses.
ἀπὸapoofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ζύμηςzymēsleavenG2219
√ ζύμη — ferment (as if boiling up)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
τῶνtōnused inG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἄρτωνartōnbreadG740
√ ἄρτος — bread (as raised) or a loafNounGenitive Masculine Plural
ártos: a loaf Genitive plural in the coined phrase “leaven of the loaves,” the literal sense named once and refused.
ἀλλὰallabutG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
allá: but, other things Strong's root sense is “other things”: the strong adversative that substitutes the true object for the false.
ἀπὸapoofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
διδαχῆςdidachēsteachingG1322
√ διδαχή — instruction (the act or the matter)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
didachḗ: instruction, the act or the matter The word makes the whole unit a warning about teaching, which is why Geneva's heading for v. 5 is simply that false teachers must be taken warning of. Barnes lists why error works like leaven: small in appearance, insinuated silently, gradual, certain, and at last pervading every faculty. Note the honest limit of Matthew's own gloss: he names teaching, and it is Luke 12:1, not Matthew, that names hypocrisy.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ΦαρισαίωνPharisaiōnPhariseesG5330
√ Φαρισαῖος — a separatist, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ΣαδδουκαίωνSaddoukaiōnSadduceesG4523
√ Σαδδουκαῖος — a Sadducæan (iNounGenitive Masculine Plural

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 loaf they forgot, and the Loaf in the boat — vv. 5 to 7

⚙ Matthew sets the scene with one aorist middle: ἐπελάθοντο, they lost it out of mind. Pulpit insists the form is not pluperfect, so the failure surfaces in the crossing itself, “came to the other side, and forgot,” and Pulpit adds that the country ahead was thinly settled with no prospect of supply. Why they forgot, no one is told. Ellicott offers two guesses and commits to neither: the suddenness of their Lord's departure, or a wrong beginning of dependence on the wonder working power; Gill prefers that they were absorbed in the exchange with the Pharisees and Sadducees, or simply hurried. Benson reconstructs the household detail, that the seven baskets from the recent miracle were used up and one loaf was left in the ship, following Mark 8:14. The word for their want is ἄρτους, plural loaves, which Strong's defines as bread as raised, that is, bread with leaven already in it. Into that lack the Lord drops two present imperatives, Ὁρᾶτε and προσέχετε ἀπό: keep seeing, keep holding the mind away. Ellicott notices the pastoral shape of it, that the warning takes its form from the thing just narrated, the Master making their perplexed looks and whispers the text of a proverb which was a concentrated parable. Then v. 7: διελογίζοντο ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, an imperfect of reckoning back and forth inside a closed circle, while the One who fed thousands sits with them. Barnes supplies the lexical reason they misheard, that leaven was not ordinarily used among the Jews for doctrine, no other instance of that use occurring in the Scriptures; Cambridge agrees that this metaphorical use of leaven was new. Ellicott, Barnes, Poole and Gill all suppose they took it as a purity rule about whose bread was lawful to buy, and Pulpit judges plain hunger the likelier motive. The Greek does not decide it. What the Greek does decide is the irony: commanded to hold the mind off, they hold it on, and call that obedience.

ii. Little faith, and the arithmetic of memory — vv. 8 to 10

⚙ Γνοὺς stands with no object. Matthew will not say whether He overheard or simply knew; Pulpit allows either, Geneva's marginal gloss insists it was not by others but by virtue of His divinity, and Gill likewise says it was without hearing any of their debates. Then one compound word of address, ὀλιγόπιστοι, little-faith ones, which Ellicott reads with care: the Lord reproves not the want of discernment, which depended on imaginative power or acquired culture for which they were not answerable, but the want of faith. And the cure He prescribes is not new revelation but memory. μνημονεύετε in v. 9 is the exact counterweight to ἐπελάθοντο in v. 5, one verb of losing from mind answered by one verb of exercising memory. Poole gathers the three charges plainly, ignorance, unbelief and forgetfulness, and calls forgetfulness what Scripture often makes it, the mother of unbelief, citing Deuteronomy 4:9 and Psalm 78:11. The evidence He asks them to recall is arithmetic: five loaves, five thousand, κοφίνους; seven loaves, four thousand, σπυρίδας. Ellicott records that the distinction between the two kinds of baskets, the cophini and the spurides, is strictly observed here, and Pulpit presses it against the critics who would fuse the two feedings into one story, naming the small baskets and the large panniers. Benson turns the sums into the argument the disciples should have made: He who fed five thousand can never be at a loss to provide a meal for twelve. Gill puts the same in the Lord's own mouth as a paraphrase, am I not able to feed twelve of you, though you have but one loaf. ⚙ The point worth holding is that faith is here treated as an act of honest bookkeeping. Nothing mystical is asked. They are asked to count what they themselves carried away.

iii. From leaven to teaching: the mind put together — vv. 11 to 12

⚙ The remarkable thing about v. 11 is that it adds nothing. πῶς, an interrogative of manner which Geneva glosses as a demand joined with wonder, then the same command from v. 6 word for word. Ellicott states the method exactly: true to His way of teaching, the Lord does not Himself interpret the parable, but is content to suggest the train of thought which led to the interpretation, and Pulpit defends it, that it is in the way of His providence to speak words which need thought and grace to be fully comprehended, and that a well instructed Hebrew, whose Scriptures are full of metaphor, should have managed this one. Then v. 12, and the verb changes: συνῆκαν, they put it together, which Cambridge marks as the word used specially of spiritual intelligence. Matthew does not write that Jesus explained. He writes that they assembled it, and only then does the narrator name the referent, διδαχῆς, teaching. Ellicott would render it teaching rather than doctrine, not so much the formulated dogmas of the sects as their general drift and tendency; Pulpit widens it to practice as well as precept, since the same spirit permeated all. On the content the sources are specific and worth keeping separate: Gill names the Pharisees' leaven as the commandments and inventions of men, the traditions of the elders, free will, and justification by the works of the law, and the Sadducees' as no resurrection, no angels, no spirits; Poole reduces the Pharisaic side to justification by works and the binding of tradition, and cites Acts 23:8 for the Sadducean side. Ellicott, citing Luke 12:1, names hypocrisy, the unreality of a life respectable, rigid, outwardly religious, and yet wanting in humility and love, and takes the Sadducean and Herodian leaven to be worldliness allied to the denial of the resurrection, adding honestly that it is not specially defined. Barnes then lists why error deserves the figure: slight in appearance, insinuated silently, gradual, certain, and at last pervading all the faculties. Pulpit closes with Chrysostom, that the reproof led them away from the Jewish observances, made them heedful, and delivered them from want of faith, so that they were no longer alarmed at having few loaves. Henry says the whole of it in one line, that Christ teaches by the Spirit of wisdom in the heart, opening the understanding to the Spirit of revelation in the word.

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

⚙ Read only against the rest of Scripture, without help from any commentator, this passage makes one claim that a modern reader is likely to resist: that dullness about doctrine and anxiety about supper are the same disease. The Lord does not answer their theological confusion with a definition. He answers it with a bill of lading, five loaves and twelve baskets, seven loaves and seven hampers, and He calls the men who cannot add it up ὀλιγόπιστοι. Notice the structure the Greek forces on us. Verse 6 commands the mind held away from leaven. Verse 7 shows the mind held tightly on bread. Verse 9 asks whether the mind works at all (νοεῖτε) and whether memory works (μνημονεύετε). Verse 11 repeats v. 6 without a syllable of explanation. Verse 12 reports that they put it together (συνῆκαν). Between the unexplained command and the understanding lies nothing but rebuke and remembered evidence, which suggests that the cure for bad theology in this text is not more information but a rehearsed memory of what God has actually done, held in trust. That is also why one article binds Pharisee and Sadducee together: the man who adds traditions and the man who subtracts the resurrection are both handling God from their own resources, and both ferment quietly through whatever they touch. ⚙ And there is a plain thing here that the text hints at and never states, which we therefore offer as a reading to be tested and not as a finding: they are worried about having no bread while sitting in a boat with the man who multiplied bread twice, and in this same Gospel that man will take bread, break it, and say “this is my body.” The disciples forgot to take loaves. They did not, as it turned out, forget to bring the Bread.

They were anxious about bread in a boat that already held the Bread. (⚙ machine synthesis, not a verse)

⚙

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 same rebuke, sharper: Mark's telling of this hour verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 8:14 to 21 carries this identical scene, and the Verifier confirms the overlap word by word: ἄρτος in Mark 8:19 and 8:17, διαλογίζομαι (the reckoning verb of vv. 7 and 8) in Mark 8:17, and in Mark 8:20 both πόσος and the very rare σπυρίς, the hamper word of v. 10. Cambridge notes that in Mark the rebuke is given at greater length in stirring language, and Poole quotes it: perceive ye not yet, neither understand, have ye your eyes yet hardened. Ellicott and Gill both record the real difference, that Mark's warning is against the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod where Matthew has Pharisees and Sadducees; Gill proposes several reconciliations, that Christ may have cautioned against all three, or that Sadducees were generally Herodians. JFB simply refers all exposition of this passage to Mark 8:11 to 21.

Mark 8:15 · Mark 8:17 · Mark 8:19 · Mark 8:20

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4711 σπυρίς (rare, in 5 vv) and G4214 πόσος (in 27 vv) at Mark 8:20, G2219 ζύμη (in 11 vv) at Mark 8:15, G1260 διαλογίζομαι (in 15 vv) and G740 ἄρτος (in 89 vv) at Mark 8:17. Greek to Greek within the New Testament, so shared Strong's numbers are a legitimate verbal basis; this is synoptic parallel wording, not one book quoting another

Purge out the old leaven: Paul on the same figure verbal / quotation: confirmed

Paul uses ζύμη exactly as the Lord does here, as a figure for what spreads through a whole body: a little leaven leavens the whole lump (Galatians 5:9), purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump (1 Corinthians 5:7). Pulpit cites both texts in this connection. The Verifier records the shared rare lexeme. Note the honest limit: Paul is not quoting Matthew and Matthew is not quoting Paul; what is confirmed is the shared figure in shared vocabulary, both Greek.

1 Corinthians 5:6 · 1 Corinthians 5:7 · 1 Corinthians 5:8 · Galatians 5:9

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2219 ζύμη (rare, in 11 vv) at 1 Corinthians 5:6, 5:7, 5:8 and Galatians 5:9. Greek to Greek, a real verbal link in a shared figure; no citation of one text by the other is claimed

The other leaven: the same word with the opposite valence structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ The figure is not fixed to corruption. In Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:21 a woman hides ζύμη in three measures of meal until the whole is leavened, and there the point is the kingdom's quiet total penetration. Barnes, commenting here, sends the reader to Matthew 13:33 for how leaven works, silently and certainly through the mass, and Benson gives the mechanism as the reason for the metaphor: it spreads in the soul, or the church, as leaven does in meal. So the constant in the figure is penetration, not evil, and the moral valence comes from what is doing the spreading. This is a shared lexeme inside a shared image, deliberately turned two ways; no quotation is involved.

Matthew 13:33 · Luke 13:21

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2219 ζύμη (in 11 vv) and G2983 λαμβάνω (in 243 vv) at Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:21. Deliberately tiered structural rather than verbal: the link is one image used with reversed valence, and calling it verbal would imply a quotation relationship that does not exist

Leaven named as hypocrisy: Luke's different setting structural / thematic: confirmed

Luke 12:1 gives the same warning with an interpretation attached in the text itself, the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, spoken to the disciples before a crowd. Ellicott builds on it, taking the leaven here to be that unreality of a life respectable, rigid, outwardly religious, and yet wanting in the humility and love which are of the essence of true holiness. Pulpit is more cautious and states the difference plainly, that by leaven Christ does not here refer specially to hypocrisy as in Luke 12:1, but to the evil influence which they exercised, diffused far and wide. Cambridge simply records that in Luke the context is different. ⚙ We keep Pulpit's caution: Matthew's own gloss in v. 12 is διδαχή, teaching, and importing Luke's definition is a synthesis, not Matthew's word.

Luke 12:1

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4337 προσέχω (in 24 vv), G5330 Φαρισαῖος (in 93 vv) and G3101 μαθητής (in 247 vv) at Luke 12:1. Tiered structural rather than verbal because the shared words are the common ones while the distinctive term (ζύμη) is present in a different setting with a different stated interpretation; the commentators themselves disagree about whether Luke's gloss applies here

Pharisee and Sadducee under one article structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew joins the two parties with a single τῶν, here and at 16:1, as John did at Matthew 3:7. The Verifier confirms the rare shared name Σαδδουκαῖος across those verses and Acts 23:6 and 23:8. Poole appeals to Acts 23:8 for the content of the Sadducean leaven, that they said there was no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, and Gill gives the same. Acts 23:6 to 8 also shows the two parties as opponents, which is what makes the single article in v. 6 and v. 11 pointed: opposed schools, one ferment.

Matthew 16:1 · Matthew 3:7 · Acts 23:6 · Acts 23:8

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4523 Σαδδουκαῖος (rare, in 14 vv) at Matthew 16:1, Matthew 3:7, Acts 23:6 and Acts 23:8, with G5330 Φαρισαῖος (in 93 vv). Deliberately downgraded from verbal: the shared lexeme is rare, but it is only the proper designation of the sect, which any text about that sect must use, so it evidences a shared subject and not verbal dependence

Leaven put out of the house: the Passover background structural / thematic: confirmed

The figure of v. 6 has an Old Testament floor. At Passover leaven is removed from the houses and whoever eats it is cut off (Exodus 12:15 and 12:19), no leaven is to be seen in all the borders (Exodus 13:7), and the meal offering brought to the altar is to be made without leaven (Leviticus 2:11, Leviticus 6:17). Pulpit records exactly this as the reason the figure reads as impurity, that leaven was regarded as a sign of corruption, as we learn from the strict rules which banished it from divine service and especially during the Passover season. ⚙ No quotation formula appears in Matthew 16:5 to 12, and no shared Strong's number is possible between a Greek text and a Hebrew one, so the link is one of figure and practice only: the disciples have inherited a world in which leaven is the thing you search out and burn, and the Lord turns that domestic rite on a body of teaching.

Exodus 12:15 · Exodus 12:19 · Exodus 13:7 · Leviticus 2:11 · Leviticus 6:17

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers cannot be the basis and no verbal tier is available. Basis is the shared cultic practice and figure of leaven removed from house and offering, recorded by Pulpit; Matthew contains no citation formula here

They forgot His works: the old indictment of the redeemed structural / thematic: confirmed

Poole grounds v. 9 in the Old Testament pattern directly, listing forgetfulness among the three faults charged and citing Deuteronomy 4:9, Deuteronomy 25:19 and Psalm 78:11. Psalm 78:11 says of Israel that they forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them; Psalm 106:13 says they soon forgot His works and did not wait for His counsel; Deuteronomy 8:2 and 8:3 command the remembering of the whole desert way, and of the bread that was not their own doing. ⚙ That is the shape of v. 5 to v. 9: men who have twice carried home baskets of surplus, worried about lunch. The rebuke does not treat them as innocents but as heirs of a named national failure.

Psalm 78:11 · Psalm 106:13 · Deuteronomy 8:2 · Deuteronomy 8:3

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's basis is possible and verbal tier is excluded. Basis is the shared motif of forgetting God's works after experiencing them, with Poole's own citation of Psalm 78:11 and Deuteronomy 4:9 in his comment on these verses as the recorded warrant

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The bread they forgot, and the Bread they carried ancient/widely-held

⚙ The two feedings He makes them recount are, in this Gospel, the works of the one who will shortly take bread, bless, break and give it with the words “this is my body.” Pulpit draws the line for us from the disciples' side, observing that they were always slow to catch the spiritual sense, and that at Capernaum they failed to grasp His meaning when He spoke of Himself as the Bread of life, and at Jacob's well they took His words about the nourishment of the soul as material food. The wilderness precedent stands behind both: Exodus 16 gives bread from heaven that no one worked for, and Psalm 78:24 and 78:25 call it the corn of heaven, the bread of the mighty. John 6:13 counts twelve baskets of fragments in the same way this unit does, and then the discourse identifies the giver with the gift. ⚙ So the anxiety of v. 7 is not merely small faith; it is a failure to recognise who is in the boat. This reading, that the feeding miracles disclose Christ as the true bread foreshadowed by the manna, is the widely held apostolic and patristic one, and Pulpit records it here by citing John 6.

John 6:13 · John 6:35 · Exodus 16:15 · Psalm 78:24 · Psalm 78:25

Christ our Passover: the unleavened body ancient/widely-held

Paul completes the figure of v. 6 in the direction the Passover rite already pointed: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore purge out the old leaven and keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:7 and 5:8). Pulpit cites those very words in his note on v. 6, alongside Galatians 5:9. ⚙ Two things follow. First, the leaven the Lord names is not a private fault but a contagion in a body, which is why both He and Paul speak to a company and not to an individual. Second, the purge is grounded in an accomplished sacrifice, not in vigilance alone: the house is swept because the Lamb is slain. The typology of the unleavened feast fulfilled in Christ is ancient and widely held, stated in Scripture itself at 1 Corinthians 5:7.

1 Corinthians 5:7 · 1 Corinthians 5:8 · Exodus 12:15

He opened their understanding: who does the putting together ancient/widely-held

⚙ Verse 12 records an understanding that no explanation produced. He repeats the command (v. 11) and they assemble the sense (συνῆκαν). Matthew Henry reads the event theologically and names the agent: Christ teaches by the Spirit of wisdom in the heart, opening the understanding to the Spirit of revelation in the word. That is the same pairing Luke gives at the end of his Gospel, where the risen Christ opens their understanding so that they might understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45), and that Jesus promises in John 16:13, that the Spirit of truth will guide into all truth. Pulpit, quoting Chrysostom, describes the fruit in these very men, that the reproof made them heedful and delivered them from want of faith, so that they no longer feared when the loaves were few. ⚙ Read this way the unit is a small model of how Christ makes a disciple: a command that is not explained, a memory that is demanded, a rebuke that is not softened, and then a mind that is opened.

Luke 24:45 · John 16:13

Two feedings, two baskets, one loaf: a reading offered for testing novel

⚙ The Lord insists on the difference between the κόφινοι of the five thousand and the σπυρίδες of the four thousand, and Ellicott confirms that the distinction is strictly observed here and at Matthew 15:37. The first feeding stands in Galilee among Israel; the second follows the Canaanite woman who asked for the children's crumbs (Matthew 15:21 to 28) and precedes this crossing. ⚙ We therefore ask, and do not assert, whether the two ledgers He sets before them are two peoples fed from the same hands, and whether the one loaf Mark says was in the boat is the sign that the supply for both was already aboard. This is our own figural reading. None of the commentators in this brief draws it: Ellicott records only the lexical distinction, and Pulpit uses it only to defend two distinct miracles against critics who merge them. It is marked novel and should be tested against the text before it is trusted.

Matthew 15:21 · Matthew 15:37 · Mark 8:14

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)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • 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)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. (1) Text: the BSB reading is stable here and no variant of substance is flagged in the brief for Matthew 16:5 to 12. The real textual question is comparative, not internal: Mark 8:15 has “the leaven of Herod” where Matthew 16:6 and 16:11 have “the Sadducees.” Ellicott judges Mark's form the one actually spoken, with Matthew or his source substituting the better known party; Gill offers the alternatives that Christ warned against all three, or that Sadducees were generally Herodians; Poole notes it has made some think Herod was a Sadducee. All three are reconstructions. The difference is real and none of these explanations is verified here.

(2) Interlinear: several negative particles in the Berean data carry the placeholder “vvv” in the gloss column (Matthew 16:7 index 7, 16:9 indices 0 and 2, 16:11 indices 1 and 4, 16:12 index 3) because the English negation is attached to the verb gloss. The words are present in the Greek; only their gloss cells are empty, and our notes treat them as present.

(3) Sources: JFB supply no exposition of this passage at all, referring the reader to Mark 8:11 to 21, so their entry is quoted here only for transparency. Matthew Henry's entry is a single Concise Commentary paragraph covering vv. 5 to 12, not a verse by verse note. Geneva's contributions are marginal glosses of one line. Poole's notes on vv. 5 to 7 and 8 to 12 are filed under 16:7 and 16:12 respectively, which is why his material appears at those verses.

(4) Uncertain: why the disciples misheard is not stated by Matthew. Ellicott, Barnes, Poole and Gill favour a ritual purity misunderstanding about whose bread was lawful; Pulpit thinks simple hunger more probable; Cambridge splits the error in two, a want of spiritual insight and a want of trust. We have not chosen for the reader. Gill's rabbinic references for “leaven in the lump” as a name for the corruption of nature are cited by him to talmudic and midrashic sources that are not verified in this brief. Whether the conversation happened in the boat or after landing is expressly left open by Pulpit. Finally, the fourth Christ entry (the two basket words read as two peoples) is our own and is marked novel; no voice in this brief supports it.

✦ = 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)