The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew20:20–28

A Mother’s Request

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Matthew 20:20–28 — A Mother’s Request. 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.

20

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tote hē mētēr Zebedaiou tōn huiōn prosēlthen autō meta autēs tōn huiōn proskynousa kai aitousa ti ap’ autou

Word by word18 · parsed
ΤότεToteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
tote: then, at that time A hinge adverb, not a mere connective: Pulpit and Ellicott both read the request as arising directly out of the promise of twelve thrones in Matthew 19:28, and Benson notes it follows immediately on the third passion prediction. The timing is the scandal.
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
μήτηρmētērmotherG3384
√ μήτηρ — a "mother" (literally or figuratively, immediate or remote)NounNominative Feminine Singular
mētēr: mother (literally or figuratively) Unnamed here. Her name is reached only by inference: Cambridge, Gill, Barnes, and Pulpit all compare Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40 and conclude she is Salome, one of the women who followed and provided for Jesus and who will stand near the cross. Note what the text itself withholds: she is identified by her relationships, and her petition is for her children, not herself.
ΖεβεδαίουZebedaiouof Zebedee’sG2199
√ Ζεβεδαῖος — Zebedæus, an IsraeliteNounGenitive Masculine Singular
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
υἱῶνhuiōnsonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Plural
προσῆλθενprosēlthencameG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτῷautōto [Jesus]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
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
αὐτῆςautēsherG846
√ 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 Feminine 3rd Person Singular
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
υἱῶνhuiōnsonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Plural
προσκυνοῦσαproskynousa[and] knelt downG4352
√ προσκυνέω — to fawn or crouch to, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
proskyneō: to prostrate oneself, do homage The same verb used of the magi (Matthew 2:11) and of the leper (Matthew 8:2, cited by Barnes). Ellicott presses the point that the act “implied that she was speaking to a King,” which is a real confession of faith wrapped around a wrong idea of the throne. Cambridge sets the irony beside the word “crucify” that Jesus has just spoken.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αἰτοῦσάaitousato make a requestG154
√ αἰτέω — to ask (in genitive case)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
aiteō: to ask, request Active voice here, of the mother. In v. 22 the same verb returns in the middle voice, addressed to the sons: “you ask for yourselves.” The grammar quietly relocates the request from her lips to their hearts.
τιti. . .G5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
tis: some or any thing A single indefinite pronoun carries the whole strategy: get the promise first, name the favor after. Pulpit compares Bathsheba's approach to David, “I desire one small petition of thee” (1 Kings 2:20); Gill reports the parallel in Mark, “whatsoever we shall desire,” and calls it “a very odd request, both as to the matter and manner of it.”
ἀπ’ap’ofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
αὐτοῦautouHimG846
√ 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
Genitive after apo: the thing asked is to come “from him,” as a grant out of his own hand. That is precisely the point v. 23 will qualify.
21

“What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Ti theleis de Ho eipen autē Legei autō Eipe hina en sou tē basileia heis houtoi dyo hoi huioi mou kathisōsin ek sou dexiōn kai heis ex sou euōnymōn

Word by word29 · parsed
ΤίTiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
θέλειςtheleisdo you wantG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
thelō: to will, to determine Christ's question puts the will itself on the table, which is where the whole unit will end: the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve had a will too, and in Matthew 26:39 he will pray about this same cup, “not as I will.”
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenHe inquiredG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτῇautēG846
√ 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 Feminine 3rd Person Singular
ΛέγειLegeiShe answeredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person 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
ΕἰπὲEipeDeclareG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
eipon: to speak, to say (here aorist imperative) The petition takes the form of a decree. She asks Jesus to legislate the seating of his court before he has been crowned, and before, in her hearing, he has been condemned. Pulpit glosses it simply as “command.”
ἵναhinathatG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
σουsouYourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
βασιλείᾳbasileiakingdomG932
√ βασιλεία — properly, royalty, iNounDative Feminine Singular
basileia: royalty, rule, kingdom Matthew's word for the reign Jesus preaches. Mark 10:37 has “in thy glory” instead, and Poole weighs the difference honestly: it “leaves us in some doubt” whether the brothers imagined “some carnal notion of the kingdom of heaven” or “some glorious secular kingdom.” Ellicott, Benson, Barnes, Gill and Pulpit all take it of a temporal throne expected within days.
εἷςheisoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
οὗτοιhoutoiof theseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Plural
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
“Two” marks them off from the ten who will be indignant in v. 24; Matthew is already counting the party.
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
υἱοίhuioisonsG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Plural
μουmouof mineG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
καθίσωσινkathisōsinmay sitG2523
√ καθίζω — to seat down, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
kathizō: to seat down The verb returns in v. 23 as an infinitive, kathisai, in the one clause where Jesus says the granting is not his. Within Matthew the same verb seats the Son of Man on his throne of glory (19:28) and, in the Verifier's candidate Mark 10:40, stands in the parallel refusal.
ἐκekatG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
σουsouYourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
δεξιῶνdexiōnright handG1188
√ δεξιός — the right side or (feminine) hand (as that which usually takes)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Plural
dexios: the right side or hand Fifty four verses in the canon, and the place of honor in every one of the texts the commentators bring: 1 Kings 2:19 (Solomon seats Bathsheba at his right), 2 Chronicles 18:18, Psalm 45:9, Psalm 110:1. Pulpit gathers them and adds, pointedly, “There is here no thought of St. Peter's pre-eminence.”
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἷςheis[the other]G1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἐξexatG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
σουsouYourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
εὐωνύμωνeuōnymōnleftG2176
√ εὐώνυμος — properly, well-named (good-omened), iAdjectiveGenitive Neuter Plural
euōnymos: well-named, that is, the left A rare word (nine verses) doing enormous work in Matthew. Here it is the second seat of a coronation; at 25:33 and 25:41 it is the side of the goats and of the fire; at 27:38 it is the cross of one of the two robbers crucified with him. Matthew never uses it neutrally.
22

“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Ouk oidate ti aiteisthe de ho Iēsous Apokritheis eipen dynasthe piein to potērion ho egō mellō pinein Dynametha Legousin autō

Word by word20 · parsed
ΟὐκOukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
οἴδατεoidateYou do not knowG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPerfect Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
eidō: to know, to have seen A perfect: the state of not knowing. Poole: “How ready are we to ask we know not what!” Gill lists two ignorances at once, of the kingdom's nature and of what the honor would cost them.
τίtiwhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
αἰτεῖσθεaiteistheyou are askingG154
√ αἰτέω — to ask (in genitive case)VerbPresent Indicative Middle2nd Person Plural
aiteō: to ask (here middle: to ask for oneself) The single most important grammatical fact in the verse. The mother asked for them (active, v. 20); Jesus answers them in the middle voice, naming it as self seeking. Ellicott hears the reply “in a tone of infinite tenderness and sadness.”
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
ἈποκριθεὶςApokritheisrepliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
δύνασθεdynastheCan youG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
dynamai: to be able, to have power Jesus asks about capacity, not willingness, and Poole is blunt about the answer: “How little do we know our own strength! When Christ was apprehended, they all forsook him and fled.”
πιεῖνpieindrinkG4095
√ πίνω — to imbibe (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Infinitive Active
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ποτήριονpotērioncupG4221
√ ποτήριον — a drinking-vesselNounAccusative Neuter Singular
potērion: a drinking-vessel, a cup In the prophets the cup is what God hands to the guilty: Isaiah 51:17 and 51:22, Jeremiah 25:15-17, Ezekiel 23:31-34, Psalm 75:8, Habakkuk 2:16. Henry holds the distinction that governs the whole unit: it is “a cup of trembling, but not the cup of the wicked,” and “it is a cup in the hand of a Father” (John 18:11). Geneva adds the other prophetic use, the overflowing cup of Psalm 23:5 and the portion of Psalm 16:5, so that the metaphor names a lot assigned rather than merely a punishment.
ὃhoG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἐγὼegōIG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
μέλλωmellōam goingG3195
√ μέλλω — to intend, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
mellō: to intend, to be about to The cup is not an accident overtaking him; Matthew 26:39 and 26:42 show him accepting it by prayer.
πίνεινpineinto drinkG4095
√ πίνω — to imbibe (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
ΔυνάμεθαDynamethaWe canG1410
√ δύναμαι — to be able or possibleVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive1st Person Plural
dynamai: we are able Two words in Greek. Gill traces the confidence to three roots: not weighing the sufferings, ignorance of themselves, and “a vehement desire of the places in his kingdom, they asked for.”
ΛέγουσινLegousin[the brothers] answeredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
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
23

“You will indeed drink My cup,” Jesus said. “But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom My Father has prepared them.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

men piesthe mou To potērion Legei autois de to kathisai ek mou dexiōn kai ex euōnymōn touto estin ouk emon dounai all’ hois hypo mou tou Patros hētoimastai

Word by word28 · parsed
μὲνmenvvvG3303
√ μέν — properly, indicative of affirmation or concession (in fact)Conjunction
The concessive particle grants the smaller half of the request before refusing the greater.
πίεσθεpiestheYou will indeed drinkG4095
√ πίνω — to imbibe (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Middle2nd Person Plural
pinō: to drink The grant is real and terrible: they receive exactly what they said they were able to bear. Cambridge and Pulpit record the outcome soberly, James by Herod's sword (Acts 12:2), John by a long life of persecution and banishment; Pulpit notes that the boiling oil story rests on Tertullian and “has not been accepted by modern criticism.”
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
ΤὸToG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ποτήριόνpotērioncupG4221
√ ποτήριον — a drinking-vesselNounAccusative Neuter Singular
ΛέγειLegei[Jesus] saidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ 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
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
καθίσαιkathisaito sitG2523
√ καθίζω — to seat down, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
kathizō: to seat down The petition of v. 21 is repeated in Christ's own words, which is how he answers it: he does not deny the seats exist, only that their assignment lies in his hand to dispense on request.
ἐκekatG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
δεξιῶνdexiōnrightG1188
√ δεξιός — the right side or (feminine) hand (as that which usually takes)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Plural
καὶkai[or]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐξexG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
εὐωνύμωνeuōnymōnleftG2176
√ εὐώνυμος — properly, well-named (good-omened), iAdjectiveGenitive Neuter Plural
τοῦτοtoutoG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἔστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
οὐκouknotG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐμὸνemonMineG1699
√ ἐμός — myPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative Neuter 1st Person Singular
emos: my, mine The word the whole doctrinal fight turns on. Poole reports that the text “hath been abused by those who have denied Christ's Deity,” and answers that Christ speaks here of his office as Mediator, comparing John 10:28 and John 17:2; Geneva says the same more briefly; Barnes insists the refusal is about the manner of granting, not the power. This synthesis records the disagreement rather than settling it.
δοῦναιdounaito grantG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Infinitive Active
ἀλλ’all’[These seats belong]G235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
alla: but, rather Read as plain adversative, Jesus says the seats belong to those for whom they are prepared. Read as “except” (Benson, Poole, Pulpit), he says he gives them to none but those. Cambridge calls that second reading “more than doubtful.” Either way, nothing in the Greek corresponds to the English supplements.
οἷςhoisto those for whomG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounDative Masculine Plural
ὑπὸhypoG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΠατρόςPatrosFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
patēr: father The first appearance of the Father in this exchange, and he appears precisely as the one who prepares. Matthew's pattern holds: the Father grants revelation (11:26, 16:17) and prepares the kingdom (25:34).
ἡτοίμασταιhētoimastaihas prepared themG2090
√ ἑτοιμάζω — to prepareVerbPerfect Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
hetoimazō: to prepare A perfect passive with an explicit divine agent: the places are not vacancies to be lobbied for but a preparation already complete. Pulpit puts the consequence in Bernard's words, that the throne is “the price of toils, not a grace granted to ambition”; Gill draws it toward election, “prepared by his Father, from the foundation of the world.” The verb itself says only that the preparing is finished and is the Father's.
24

When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi deka akousantes ēganaktēsan peri tōn dyo adelphōn

Word by word9 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
δέκαdekatenG1176
√ δέκα — tenAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
deka: ten The count is the commentary. Poole notes what the arithmetic does not contain: “Here is not yet a word of Peter's primacy, or any claim he put in for it,” and Pulpit makes the same observation against later claims.
ἀκούσαντεςakousantesheard about [this]G191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
An aorist participle of akouō, hearing, with no stated object.
ἠγανάκτησανēganaktēsanthey were indignantG23
√ ἀγανακτέω — akin to the base of G43 (ἀγκάλη))VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
aganakteō: to be greatly grieved, indignant Every voice in this brief refuses to read the anger as righteous. Ellicott: “not a righteous indignation... but rather the jealousy of rivals.” Cambridge: it “displayed the same spirit and motive as the request.” Poole: “they seem to be sick of the same disease.” Gill says plainly they were not offended at ambition, “for they were all tinctured with the same carnal principle.”
περὶperiwithG4012
√ περί — properly, through (all over), iPreposition
peri: concerning, about The preposition keeps the quarrel behind the brothers' backs, which is why Jesus has to call the whole group to himself in v. 25.
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀδελφῶνadelphōnbrothersG80
√ ἀδελφός — a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
adelphos: a brother Matthew's last word in the verse is the relation the quarrel is destroying. Henry: “Nothing makes more mischief among brethren, than desire of greatness.”
25

But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho Iēsous proskalesamenos autous eipen Oidate hoti hoi archontes tōn ethnōn katakyrieuousin autōn kai hoi megaloi katexousiazousin autōn

Word by word19 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ 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
προσκαλεσάμενοςproskalesamenoscalled them asideG4341
√ προσκαλέομαι — to call toward oneself, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
proskaleomai: to call toward oneself The pastoral move before the teaching: Pulpit notes the two had stood apart, and “Jesus now gathers them all round him.” Gill sees the reason: “perceiving that the same ambitious views prevailed in them all.”
αὐτοὺςautous. . .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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
εἶπενeipen[and] saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΟἴδατεOidateYou knowG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPerfect Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
A perfect indicative plural, the same verb as in v. 22. There they did not know; here they do. Pulpit: “He appeals to common experience.”
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἄρχοντεςarchontesrulersG758
√ ἄρχων — a first (in rank or power)NounNominative Masculine Plural
archōn: a first in rank or power Literally “the firsts,” from the same root family as prōtos in v. 27. The kingdom's vocabulary of primacy is the vocabulary Jesus is about to redefine.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Plural
ἐθνῶνethnōnGentilesG1484
√ ἔθνος — a race (as of the same habit), iNounGenitive Neuter Plural
ethnos: a nation, a people Gill's gloss is sharp: these are rulers “who know not God, the King of kings, and Lord of lords,” and so for the apostles to want rank over one another “was to imitate the Gentiles.” Ellicott goes further and calls the disciples' own Messianic expectations “really heathen in their character.”
κατακυριεύουσινkatakyrieuousinlord it overG2634
√ κατακυριεύω — to lord against, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
katakyrieuō: to lord it down upon Four verses in the canon, and one of the other three is 1 Peter 5:3, where an apostle who was standing in this room forbids elders to do this to the flock. The rarity of the word makes that a real verbal link, not an impression.
αὐτῶνautōnthemG846
√ 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 Neuter 3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoi[their]G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μεγάλοιmegaloisuperiorsG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
megas: great The pivot word of the unit. Held together with v. 26, Jesus does not deny that there are great ones among his people; he relocates greatness into service. Cambridge lays out the inverted ladder: prince, noble, attendant, slave, and then “he that will be the monarch must be the slave.”
κατεξουσιάζουσινkatexousiazousinexercise authority overG2715
√ κατεξουσιάζω — to have (wield) full privilege overVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
katexousiazō: to wield full privilege over A second compound piling kata onto authority. Pulpit: “use authority harshly and severely.” The doubling is rhetorical: two heavy verbs for one behavior, so that the contrast in v. 26 lands on a single plain noun, servant.
αὐτῶνautōnthemG846
√ 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 Neuter 3rd Person Plural
26

It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ouch estai houtōs en hymin all’ hos ean thelē genesthai megas en hymin estai hymōn diakonos

Word by word16 · parsed
οὐχouchvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἔσταιestaiIt shall not beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
eimi: to be (future indicative) A future of constitution: this is simply how it will stand among you. The imperative force English adds is a paraphrase, and a fair one, but the Greek is more sweeping than a command.
οὕτωςhoutōsthis wayG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
ἐνenamongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἀλλ’all’InsteadG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
The adversative that carries the whole inversion: not that, but this.
ὃςhoswhoeverG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐὰνean. . .G1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
θέλῃthelēwantsG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
thelō: to will, to determine The same verb Jesus put to the mother in v. 21. He does not forbid the wanting; he redirects it. Ellicott renders it “whosoever wisheth to be great.”
γενέσθαιgenesthaito becomeG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Infinitive Middle
μέγαςmegasgreatG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
megas: great Ellicott's reading is the one this synthesis judges strongest: service is not the price of greatness but its substance, “because it is in itself the truest and highest greatness.” Gill turns it practical, that a man must “do great service for Christ, and to the souls of men.”
ἐνenamongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἔσταιestaimust beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
διάκονοςdiakonosservantG1249
√ διάκονος — an attendant, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
diakonos: an attendant, a table servant Barnes draws the ecclesial consequence, that an office named from waiting at table “forbids them to lord it over God's heritage, which is the very opposite of a station of superiority.” Gill applies it to pastors as equals with no lordly power over one another; Pulpit notes the pope's own title, “Servus servorum Dei,” and the word “verbally” in his comment is doing real work.
27

and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave—

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai hos an thelē einai prōtos en hymin estai hymōn doulos

Word by word11 · parsed
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὃςhoswhoeverG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἂνan. . .G302
√ ἄν — (what-, where-, wither-, who-)soeverParticle
The particle an with the subjunctive: a general case, anyone at all.
θέλῃthelēwantsG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
εἶναιeinaito beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
eimi: to be Bare being, not becoming. The ambition has grown simpler and more absolute between the two verses, and so has the answer.
πρῶτοςprōtosfirstG4413
√ πρῶτος — foremost (in time, place, order or importance)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
prōtos: foremost, first The hinge back to the parable of the vineyard that opened this chapter and to 19:30. Poole reads the whole passage as Christ “correcting the erroneous opinion his disciples had of the nature of his kingdom,” and states the rule as “The way to be greatest in heaven is to be humblest.”
ἐνenamongG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἔσταιestaimust beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ὑμῶνhymōnyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
δοῦλοςdoulosslaveG1401
√ δοῦλος — a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntaryNounNominative Masculine Singular
doulos: a slave The lowest rung of Cambridge's inverted ladder, and Gill finds it embodied in Paul, who “became a servant to all men, though he was free.” Gill also records a rabbinic saying close to the form of this one: “everyone that makes himself as a servant, for the words of the law in this world, shall be made free in the world to come.” The parallel is formal; the content of Jesus' saying is not reward for self abasement but the nature of rule itself.
28

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

hōsper ho Huios tou anthrōpou ouk ēlthen diakonēthēnai alla diakonēsai kai dounai autou tēn psychēn lytron anti pollōn

Word by word18 · parsed
ὥσπερhōsperjust asG5618
√ ὥσπερ — just as, iAdverb
hōsper: just as, even as Grammatically this is the reason clause for the rule about slaves. The atonement enters this Gospel as the ground of a command about ambition.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
huios: a son The title “Son of Man” appears in the very sentence that says he did not come to be served, which is the whole tension: in Daniel 7:13-14 the one like a son of man is given dominion and served by all peoples.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἦλθενēlthendid not comeG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
erchomai: to come or go An aorist of arrival with a purpose clause: he came for this. Barnes sets it beside Philippians 2:6-7, Poole quotes “he made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant.”
διακονηθῆναιdiakonēthēnaito be servedG1247
√ διακονέω — to be an attendant, iVerbAorist Infinitive Passive
diakoneō: to be an attendant, to serve (passive) The passive names exactly what the rulers of v. 25 receive and what the brothers of v. 21 were asking to be near. Ellicott finds the symbolic illustration in John 13:3-5, where the same Lord washes the feet of the men still disputing about rank.
ἀλλὰallabutG235
√ ἀλλά — properly, other things, iConjunction
διακονῆσαιdiakonēsaito serveG1247
√ διακονέω — to be an attendant, iVerbAorist Infinitive Active
diakoneō: to serve (active) Gill fills it out from the ministry itself, prophetic and priestly: going about from place to place doing good to bodies and souls. Pulpit adds that by the incarnation he “assumed the lowliest life of man.”
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
δοῦναιdounaito giveG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Infinitive Active
αὐτοῦautouHisG846
√ 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
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ψυχὴνpsychēnlifeG5590
√ ψυχή — breath, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
psychē: breath, life, soul Gill presses the freedom of the giving: “was not forfeited by any act of his, nor was it forced from him, but freely laid down by him.” John 10:18 says the same in Jesus' own words.
λύτρονlytron[as] a ransomG3083
√ λύτρον — something to loosen with, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
lytron: a release price, ransom The noun appears only here and in the Mark parallel in the whole New Testament. Henry hears in it the sacrificial system: “Our Lord speaks of his death in the terms applied to the sacrifices of old,” the “true and substantial sacrifice, which those of the law faintly and imperfectly represented.” Barnes lists what captivity it releases from: condemnation (Romans 3:9-23), curse (Galatians 3:10), death. Poole notes Paul's stronger compound in 1 Timothy 2:6 and concludes “there is no further satisfaction or price to be paid for any.”
ἀντὶantiforG473
√ ἀντί — opposite, iPreposition
anti: over against, instead of One preposition, and the difference between a death that inspires and a death that substitutes. Pulpit: the expression “shows that it was vicarious and propitiatory, energizing, not by example... but by an inherent power.”
πολλῶνpollōnmanyG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
polys: many The unresolved word of the unit. Gill reads it strictly: “for many out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and nation; but not for every individual of human nature; for many are not all.” Pulpit reads it against 1 Timothy 2:6 and Matthew 26:28 and holds that Christ “certainly died for all” while not all receive it. Henry refuses to let the question crush the anxious: “if for many, then the poor trembling soul may say, Why not for me?” This synthesis records the disagreement and does not adjudicate it.

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. A petition in the shape of a coronation — 20:20-21

Matthew sets the scene with a single loaded adverb, Τότε: then. Pulpit and Ellicott both trace the request to the promise of twelve thrones in Matthew 19:28, and Benson asks the question the grammar forces: “Considering what he had just been speaking, was ever any thing more unseasonable?” The mother, unnamed here and identified as Salome only by comparing Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40 (so Cambridge, Gill, Barnes, Pulpit), comes προσκυνοῦσα, prostrate. Cambridge calls it “The act of prostration before an Eastern King,” and Ellicott presses the implication that the homage “implied that she was speaking to a King.” Then she asks, in one indefinite pronoun, for τι, something: Pulpit notes she “did not at first make any definite request” and compares Bathsheba's approach in 1 Kings 2:20. ⚙ The asking is exactly right in posture and exactly wrong in content, and Matthew's grammar keeps that tension: the verb of coming is singular, she alone speaks, while Mark 10:35 puts the words in the brothers' mouths. Gill offers a reconstruction, that the sons pushed her forward “partly to shun the envy and ill will of the rest of the disciples; and partly, to conceal their own pride and vanity.” When she names the request, the two places ἐκ δεξιῶν and ἐξ εὐωνύμων are the seats of the second and third men in a realm; Barnes and Pulpit gather the texts, 1 Kings 2:19, 2 Chronicles 18:18, Psalm 45:9, Psalm 110:1.

ii. The cup, and the seats that are not his to hand out — 20:22-23

Jesus answers, and Cambridge catches the two grammatical facts that carry the scene: “Observe, Jesus addresses the sons, not the mother,” and the verb he uses of their asking is middle, so that “There is some force in the middle voice of the original, ‘ask for yourselves.’” The mother asked actively on their behalf in v. 20; Christ answers in the voice that names self interest. Then comes the ποτήριον. The lexicon gives only “a drinking-vessel”; the weight is entirely canonical, and the voices supply it with one accord. Barnes lists Isaiah 51:17, 51:22, Psalm 75:8, Jeremiah 25:15; Poole adds Psalm 11:6, Jeremiah 49:12, Ezekiel 23:32, Obadiah 1:16; Cambridge states the doctrine, “the idea of vengeance, of God's wrath against sin, is paramount in the prophets,” and adds that when the disciples later recalled the image “it would signify to them the mediation of Christ, who by His passion and death drank for man the cup of God's wrath.” Geneva's caution is worth keeping: the same figure can mean a joy or simply an allotted portion (Psalm 16:5; Psalm 23:5), so the sense here must be argued from the passion, not assumed. Henry holds both, “a cup of trembling, but not the cup of the wicked... a cup in the hand of a Father.” Their answer, Δυνάμεθα, is two syllables of confidence; Poole's verdict is the shortest in the brief: “How little do we know our own strength!” Christ grants the cup in a future middle, πίεσθε, and Cambridge records the fulfilment soberly, James by Herod's sword (Acts 12:2), John by a long life of persecution. The seats he does not grant. Here the English is unusually exposed: BSB supplies “These seats belong to those,” the King James supplied “it shall be given,” and neither has a counterpart in ἀλλ’ οἷς ἡτοίμασται ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός μου. Barnes calls the older supply one of the places where “the sense has been obscured by the introduction of words which have nothing to correspond with them in the original”; Benson and Poole argue alla means “except”; Cambridge answers that “it is more than doubtful whether the Greek word can have this meaning.” Poole also reports the christological use of the verse by those “who have denied Christ's Deity,” and replies that Christ speaks of his office as Mediator (John 10:28; John 17:2); Geneva says the same by way of Philippians 2. What the perfect passive ἡτοίμασται does say is that the preparing is finished and is the Father's, and Pulpit gives Bernard's summary: the throne is “the price of toils, not a grace granted to ambition.”

iii. Ten against two, and the politics of the nations — 20:24-25

Matthew counts: οἱ δέκα, the ten. No voice in this brief allows their anger to be righteous. Ellicott: “not a righteous indignation... but rather the jealousy of rivals.” Cambridge: it “displayed the same spirit and motive as the request of the sons of Zebedee.” Poole: “they seem to be sick of the same disease, and to have been displeased only that they had the start of the motion.” Gill agrees and says why: “they were all tinctured with the same carnal principle.” Poole and Pulpit both note in passing what the text does not contain, any claim of Peter's primacy. Jesus does not settle the dispute; he summons the whole twelve to himself (προσκαλεσάμενος, aorist middle) and describes the alternative. The two verbs are the heaviest in the unit: κατακυριεύουσιν, Strong's “to lord against,” which Pulpit calls “an absolute and oppressive domination,” and κατεξουσιάζουσιν, “to wield full privilege over,” of which Ellicott says honestly that a forcible English rendering is hard to find, but “it, too, implies a wrong exercise of authority, in the interest, not of the subjects, but of the rulers.” ⚙ Note what Jesus does not say. He does not call this rule illegitimate in the nations; he calls it theirs, and forbids its transfer. Gill draws the line at exactly the same place, that the saying is not about civil magistracy but about the apostles, “among whom there was an entire equality.” And the word for the oppressors, οἱ μεγάλοι, is the very adjective that will describe the disciple who is permitted to want greatness in the next verse.

iv. Servant, slave, ransom — 20:26-28

Both rules are stated in the future indicative, ἔσται, not the imperative: this is how it will stand among you. Pulpit even notes a reading with the present, “is,” since “The new order of things was already prepared.” The ladder descends twice. Whoever wills to become great (aorist γενέσθαι) will be your διάκονος, the table attendant from whom the church's deacons take their name; Barnes draws the inference that an office so named “forbids them to lord it over God's heritage.” Whoever wills to be first (present εἶναι, πρῶτος, the word of 19:30 and 20:16, as Ellicott notes) will be your δοῦλος. Pulpit distinguishes the two nouns precisely, the one “occasional service, to meet some temporary call,” the other “the regular business of a slave bound to his master at all times,” and Cambridge lays the whole inverted ladder out and adds a judgment about translation history, that rendering doulos “servant” rather than “slave” weakened the passage's bearing on slavery. Ellicott refuses the softening that makes service merely the road to greatness: “The true teaching of the words is that the greatness is the service.” Then ὥσπερ, just as, and the Gospel's doctrine of the atonement arrives inside a subordinate clause about church order. Ellicott marks the incongruity: “Seldom, perhaps, has a truth of such profound import been spoken, as it were, so incidentally.” The Son of Man came not διακονηθῆναι but διακονῆσαι, the same root as the servant of v. 26, and to give his ψυχήν as λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν. Cambridge defines the noun as “the price paid for the redemption of a captive from slavery,” which sets it against the doulos of the previous verse, and marks the preposition: “Not ὑπέρ, ‘on behalf of,’ but ἀντί, ‘in the place of.’” Ellicott concludes that it “implied that our Lord's death was, in some way, representative and vicarious”; Henry hears the whole sacrificial system behind it; Poole notes Paul's ἀντίλυτρον (1 Timothy 2:6) and says “there is no further satisfaction or price to be paid for any.” On the extent of it the voices split: Gill holds “many are not all,” Pulpit holds that Christ “certainly died for all” though not all receive it, and Henry, who is answering neither, gives the pastoral line that has outlived both: “if for many, then the poor trembling soul may say, Why not for me?”

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

⚙ Our own fallible reading, offered to be tested. This passage is usually taught as a rebuke of ambition, and it is that, but the grammar suggests something more exact. Jesus never tells Salome or her sons that they should not want greatness. He takes the verb she was handed in v. 21, θέλεις, and uses it twice himself in vv. 26 and 27 without correction: whoever wills to become great, whoever wills to be first. He even keeps her nouns. μέγας is the word he has just used of the tyrants of the nations; πρῶτος is the word he has been turning over since 19:30. He leaves the appetite intact and changes the definition of the thing desired, which Ellicott saw: “the greatness is the service.” Two things in the text keep this from being mere moral inversion. First, the two rules are stated in the future indicative, not the imperative, as descriptions of what will be the case among his people, so that the church's actual shape is a claim about reality rather than a policy. Second, the pattern is not an example but a purchase. The ὥσπερ of v. 28 grounds the church's order in an act the church cannot imitate: the Son of Man gives his ψυχήν as a λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν, a release price in the place of many, and the preposition (Cambridge, Ellicott, Poole) will not reduce to example. So the argument runs: serve, because your King bought you, and the buying is the deepest service there is. There is one more thing we would say tentatively, because no voice in this brief says it and it may be our own construction. The rare word εὐώνυμος occurs nine times in the canon, and Matthew uses it here, at 25:33 and 25:41 for the goats and the fire, and at 27:38 for the second of two men crucified beside Jesus, one at his right and one at his left. Salome asked for the two places beside her Lord in his glory. Matthew records those two places being occupied, by condemned criminals, at the hour Jesus drank the cup. If that echo is deliberate, then Christ's answer in v. 23 was not evasion but mercy: he could not hand out those seats, and the first men to hold them were men he was dying for. We mark that reading as ours, not the Fathers', and hold it loosely.

The two seats she asked for were filled at Golgotha, and the King who would not hand them out took the middle one.

⚙

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 scene in Mark, told with the sons speaking verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 10:35-45 is the same incident, and the differences are on the surface: Mark has James and John make the request themselves, Mark has “in thy glory” where Matthew has “in thy kingdom,” and Mark carries the clause about baptism that Matthew's earliest manuscripts do not. Poole, Gill, Cambridge and Pulpit all work at the harmony, and Cambridge draws the unusual conclusion that “For once St Matthew is more graphic and true to detail than St Mark.” The Verifier's shared lexemes across the parallel include rare ones, which is what makes this a verbal relation rather than a resemblance.

Mark 10:35 · Mark 10:40 · Mark 10:41 · Mark 10:42 · Mark 10:45

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes across the synoptic parallel, including the rare G2199 Ζεβεδαῖος (in 11 vv), G23 ἀγανακτέω (in 7 vv), G2176 εὐώνυμος (in 9 vv), G1176 δέκα (in 24 vv) and G2523 καθίζω (in 45 vv), alongside common ones (G1492, G3173, G5207, G1325). Greek to Greek, so the shared Strong's numbers are a real verbal basis. No quotation is claimed: this is the synoptic parallel account, not a citation of one book by another.

“One at His right and one at His left”: the seats filled at Golgotha verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ The rare adjective εὐώνυμος (G2176, nine verses in the canon) appears in Matthew only three times: here, in the judgment scene of 25:33 and 25:41, and at 27:38, where two robbers are crucified with Jesus, one at the right and one at the left. The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme with 27:38 and with Mark 15:27. No voice in this brief makes the connection, so the figural weight we place on it in the sola reading is ours and is marked there as ours. The lexical fact, however, is not ours: Matthew uses a rare word for the left hand in the request and again at the cross, and in between he has Jesus say the two places are not his to hand out.

Matthew 27:38 · Mark 15:27

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G2176 εὐώνυμος (in 9 vv) with G1188 δεξιός (in 54 vv) and G1520 εἷς (in 288 vv); Matthew 27:38 also shares G5119 τότε. Greek to Greek within Matthew, so the shared Strong's numbers are the recorded verbal basis. Not a quotation, and the theological inference drawn from the echo is our own and flagged as novel in the sola reading.

Right and left again, when the King does assign places structural / thematic: confirmed

The one place in Matthew where the Son of Man does seat people at his right and his left is the judgment of 25:31-46, and the criterion there is not proximity or petition but service done to the least (Ellicott brings 25:34 into v. 23 for exactly this reason, since the verb “prepared” is the same). ⚙ Read together, the two scenes answer each other: the seats at the right and the left are assigned, but by the Father's preparation and along the line of service, which is what vv. 26-28 then spell out.

Matthew 25:33 · Matthew 25:34 · Matthew 25:41

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G2176 εὐώνυμος (in 9 vv) with G1188 δεξιός (in 54 vv) at Matthew 25:33 and 25:41; G5119 τότε also shared at 25:41. The lexical link is real and Greek to Greek, but the connection we draw is a shared pattern of assigned places plus the shared perfect of G2090 ἑτοιμάζω at 25:34 (noted by Ellicott and Pulpit), so we tier it structural rather than verbal and claim no quotation.

“Not lording it over those entrusted to you”: Peter heard this verbal / quotation: confirmed

κατακυριεύω (G2634) occurs in only four verses in the whole canon. One of them is 1 Peter 5:3, where an apostle who was standing in the room when Jesus spoke this warns elders against exactly this verb toward the flock; another is Acts 19:16, where it describes a demon overpowering men. Ellicott makes the link explicitly, preferring for Matthew 20:25 the rendering “as in 1Peter 5:3, lord it over them.” The rarity of the word is what carries the weight.

1 Peter 5:3 · Acts 19:16

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G2634 κατακυριεύω (in 4 vv only). Greek to Greek, and the link is named independently by Ellicott. No quotation formula is claimed; the tier rests on the rarity of the shared lexeme.

The cup in the hand of the LORD structural / thematic: confirmed

The cup Jesus must drink is the cup the prophets put in God's hand for the guilty: Isaiah 51:17 and 51:22 (the cup of trembling, taken away from Jerusalem), Jeremiah 25:15-17 (the wine cup of fury given to the nations), Psalm 75:8 (the cup in the LORD's hand, and the dregs), Ezekiel 23:31-34, Habakkuk 2:16. Barnes, Poole, Cambridge, Pulpit and Geneva all assemble this list from their own sides of the question; Cambridge states the conclusion, that “the idea of vengeance, of God's wrath against sin, is paramount in the prophets.” Geneva's countervailing note, that the figure can also mean joy or portion (Psalm 16:5; Psalm 23:5), is kept here so the identification is argued and not assumed.

Isaiah 51:17 · Isaiah 51:22 · Jeremiah 25:15 · Psalm 75:8 · Ezekiel 23:33 · Habakkuk 2:16

basis: Cross Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's number can be computed and none is claimed; the Verifier offers no basis for these pairs. The recorded basis is the shared image of a cup handed over as an appointed portion of wrath, cited for these exact references by Barnes, Poole, Cambridge, Pulpit and Geneva. There is no quotation formula in Matthew 20:22, so no verbal tier is possible.

A ransom no man can pay for his brother typological

Psalm 49:7-8 says no man can redeem his brother or give God a ransom for him, because the redemption of a life is too costly. Exodus 30:12 sets a ransom price on each numbered Israelite. Isaiah 53:10-12 says of the Servant that he bore the sin of many and made many to be accounted righteous. ⚙ Matthew 20:28 stands where those three converge: the price no man could pay is paid, by a man, for many. The reading is figural rather than verbal, and it is old: Barnes lists Isaiah 53 among the atonement texts, Ellicott traces lytron through the Greek Old Testament (Exodus 21:30; Leviticus 25:50; Proverbs 13:8), and Henry says outright that “Our Lord speaks of his death in the terms applied to the sacrifices of old.”

Isaiah 53:11 · Isaiah 53:12 · Psalm 49:7 · Exodus 30:12

basis: Cross Testament (Greek to Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible here and none is claimed, and Matthew gives no citation formula. The basis is a figural reading, ancient and widely held, resting on the Greek Old Testament use of λύτρον and cognates for a redemption price (Ellicott's own list) and on the “many” of Isaiah 53:11-12. Tiered typological rather than verbal for that reason.

The mother who asked for a throne, and the mother who was given one structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit hears Bathsheba behind Salome: “I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay” (1 Kings 2:20), a mother approaching a king for an indefinite favour on behalf of a son. In the same chapter Solomon seats his mother at his right hand (1 Kings 2:19), the verse Barnes, Gill and Pulpit all cite for what the right hand means; Psalm 45:9 and 2 Chronicles 18:18 fill out the court imagery, and Psalm 110:1 gives the one right hand that matters in this Gospel (Matthew 22:44; 26:64). ⚙ The 1 Kings parallel is darker than the commentators say: Bathsheba's petition for Adonijah ends in Adonijah's execution, because he had asked for something that was a claim on the throne.

1 Kings 2:19 · 1 Kings 2:20 · Psalm 110:1 · Psalm 45:9 · 2 Chronicles 18:18

basis: Cross Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme is available or claimed. The recorded basis is the court convention of the seat at the king's right hand, cited for these exact references by Barnes, Gill and Pulpit, plus Pulpit's own comparison of Salome's indefinite request to Bathsheba's in 1 Kings 2:20. No quotation is claimed.

Shepherds who feed themselves, and kings who take structural / thematic: confirmed

Ezekiel 34:2-4 indicts shepherds who eat the fat and clothe themselves with the wool but do not feed the flock, and rule it “with force and with cruelty.” 1 Samuel 8:11-18 is Samuel's description of what the king the people want will do: he will take. Jeremiah 22:13-17 contrasts a king who builds his own house by unpaid labour with his father, who judged the cause of the poor. ⚙ Jesus' κατακυριεύουσιν and κατεξουσιάζουσιν in v. 25 describe that same conduct in two Greek compounds, and then forbid it among his own, which is the pattern Barnes reaches for when he says the deacon's office “forbids them to lord it over God's heritage.”

Ezekiel 34:2 · Ezekiel 34:4 · 1 Samuel 8:11 · Jeremiah 22:13

basis: Cross Testament (Greek to Hebrew): no shared Strong's number is possible and none is claimed, and Matthew quotes nothing here. The basis is the shared motif of rulers who use the flock instead of tending it, which is the conduct the two rare Greek compounds of v. 25 (G2634 in 4 vv, G2715) name and forbid.

Who Salome was, and a kinship the text never claims flagged: verify source

Matthew 20:20 names no woman. “Salome” is reached by setting Matthew 27:56 (“the mother of Zebedee's children”) beside Mark 15:40 (“Salome”), and Cambridge prints both verses to show the step; Gill, Barnes and Pulpit take the same route. That much is a sound inference. A second claim is often stacked on it, that she was the sister of the Virgin Mary and so that James and John were the Lord's cousins, and it rests on reading John 19:25 as naming four women rather than three. The voices themselves keep their distance from it: Gill writes only that “She is said to be the sister of Joseph, the husband of Mary,” which is a different kinship again, and Pulpit says merely “Some have thought that she was the sister of the Virgin Mary, so interpreting John 19:25.” ⚙ We record the identification of Salome and flag the kinship claim rather than repeating it, since nothing in this unit asserts either and the two reports in this brief do not even agree on which relative she was.

Matthew 27:56 · Mark 15:40 · John 19:25

basis: Cross reference by identification of a named person, not by shared lexeme; the Verifier offers no basis for these pairs. The Salome identification is inference from Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40 (so Cambridge, Gill, Barnes, Pulpit) and is sound but is inference. The further kinship to Mary is contested provenance: it depends on a disputed reading of John 19:25, and this brief's two witnesses report it only as hearsay and name two different relatives (Gill: sister of Joseph; Pulpit: “Some have thought... the sister of the Virgin Mary”). Flagged for that reason.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The cup He alone could drink ancient/widely-held

The question of v. 22 is the passion in one noun. What Jesus is about to drink, in the language of the prophets, is the cup God hands to the guilty (Isaiah 51:17; Psalm 75:8; Jeremiah 25:15-17), and the brothers offer to share it without knowing what it is. Cambridge states the apostolic reading plainly: when the disciples later recalled the image “it would signify to them the mediation of Christ, who by His passion and death drank for man the cup of God's wrath.” Henry keeps the distinction that makes it good news, that it is “a cup of trembling, but not the cup of the wicked,” and “a cup in the hand of a Father” (John 18:11). In Matthew's own narrative the cup returns twice, at 26:39 and 26:42, and there the one who asked “Are you able?” prays “if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me,” and then drinks it. This is the widely held reading, recorded in this brief by Cambridge, Henry, Barnes, Poole, Geneva, Gill and Pulpit alike.

Isaiah 51:17 · Psalm 75:8 · Matthew 26:39 · John 18:11

A release price in the place of many ancient/widely-held

λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν: the noun occurs in the New Testament only here and in Mark 10:45, and the preposition is the one that means “instead of.” Cambridge defines it as “the price paid for the redemption of a captive from slavery,” and marks the grammar: “Not ὑπέρ, ‘on behalf of,’ but ἀντί, ‘in the place of.’” Ellicott traces the word through the Greek Old Testament and concludes that those who heard “could attach no other meaning to it than that He who spake them was about to offer up His life that others might be delivered”; he calls this “the first distinct utterance... of the plan and method of His work,” and sees the whole later vocabulary of the Epistles (Romans 3:24; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18-19) growing from “that one pregnant word.” Poole adds Paul's ἀντίλυτρον in 1 Timothy 2:6 and draws the consequence, “there is no further satisfaction or price to be paid for any.” Henry places it in the sacrificial system; Gill and Pulpit divide over its extent but not over its nature. ⚙ The placement is the thing most easily missed: this sentence is a subordinate clause about how Christians should treat one another. The atonement is stated in this Gospel first as the ground of humility.

Isaiah 53:11 · Mark 10:45 · 1 Timothy 2:6 · 1 Peter 1:18-19 · Romans 3:24

The Son of Man in the form of a servant ancient/widely-held

The verse that says he came not to be served is built on the same verb as the rule given to the disciples: διακονηθῆναι and διακονῆσαι beside the διάκονος of v. 26. Poole reaches directly for Philippians 2:7, “he made himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant,” and reads the logic as royal: “Such, saith our Saviour, as is the King in my kingdom, such must the rulers and great persons in it be.” Barnes sets out the same descent from Philippians 2:6-7 and notes that he “came not with pomp and glory, but as a man in humble life.” Ellicott finds the enacted commentary in John 13:3-5, where the same Lord washes the feet of the men still arguing about rank, and observes that to the beloved disciple “The Son of Man seemed... never to have shown Himself so truly king like and divine as when engaged in that menial act.”

Philippians 2:6-8 · John 13:3-5 · Matthew 11:29

The Son of Man who is served by all nations, and who came to serve novel

⚙ The title in v. 28 is the sharpest irony in the unit. In Daniel 7:13-14 the one like a son of man comes to the Ancient of Days and is given dominion, glory and a kingdom, and all peoples serve him. Matthew's Jesus uses that title of himself in the sentence that says he did not come to be served, and he uses it while refusing to distribute the seats of that kingdom. The Daniel background of the title is the ancient and widely held reading; ⚙ the deliberate inversion we hear between Daniel's service rendered and Matthew's service given is our own emphasis, and we hold it as an observation about the two texts rather than a claim any voice in this brief makes.

Daniel 7:13-14 · Matthew 26:64 · Matthew 28:18

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)
  • 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. Text. The clause “and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with,” in both v. 22 and v. 23, is not printed in the BSB base text of this unit and is not in the interlinear word list above. Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit and Gill all record the manuscript situation: Ellicott says the words “are not found in many of the best MSS., and have probably been added to bring St. Matthew's narrative into harmony with St. Mark's”; Cambridge says the same; Pulpit notes the Vulgate and other versions omit them and that modern editors, with the Revised Version, expunge them, while adding that in Mark “it is undoubtedly genuine, so we have good warrant to believe that our Lord spoke the words.” Readers should know that Henry, Barnes, Poole, Geneva and Benson comment at length on the baptism clause because they worked from the Received Text. Their remarks on it are preserved here as their own, not as commentary on the text we print.

Translators' supplements. In v. 23 the BSB sentence “These seats belong to those for whom My Father has prepared them” renders ἀλλ’ οἷς ἡτοίμασται ὑπὸ τοῦ Πατρός μου; the words “These seats belong to” and “them” have no Greek counterpart, and the King James supplement “it shall be given” has none either. Barnes, Benson, Poole and Pulpit all discuss the supplement; Benson and Poole read alla as “except,” and Cambridge answers that “it is more than doubtful whether the Greek word can have this meaning.” We record the dispute unresolved. In v. 21 the word “hand” in “right hand” is likewise supplied; the Greek has plural substantives, “out of your right parts.”

What the text does not say. The mother is unnamed here. “Salome” is an inference from comparing Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40, drawn by Cambridge, Gill, Barnes and Pulpit; it is a good inference, not a statement of this passage. The further claim that she was the sister of the Virgin Mary, and so that James and John were the Lord's cousins, is reported by Gill as something she “is said to be” and by Pulpit as what “Some have thought,” resting on a disputed reading of John 19:25. Treat it as uncertain. The stories of John being plunged into boiling oil are reported by Benson (from Doddridge), by Gill, and by Pulpit, who traces the legend to Tertullian and Jerome and says it “appears to have been a legend that first appeared in Tertullian's work, and was copied from him by other writers without examination.” Cambridge simply says John “died a natural death.”

Unresolved doctrine. Two disagreements inside the ✦ layer are left standing rather than smoothed. First, on v. 23: Poole reports the verse being used against the deity of Christ and answers from his office as Mediator (John 10:28; John 17:2); Geneva answers from the self emptying of Philippians 2; Barnes answers from the manner of granting. Second, on the “many” of v. 28: Gill holds that Christ died for the elect and that “many are not all”; Pulpit holds that “Christ certainly died for all,” citing 1 Timothy 2:6, while all do not accept it. This synthesis does not adjudicate either, and Henry's pastoral line is offered instead of a verdict.

Sources and method. JFB's entry for every verse in this unit is only a cross reference, “For the exposition, see on Mr 10:32-45,” so no JFB material is quoted; the substantive voices here are Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit, and all nine are quoted here. Thread bases from the Verifier are Greek to Greek shared Strong's lexemes; every cross Testament link in this unit (the cup of wrath, the ransom, the seat at the king's right hand, the shepherds who lord it over the flock) is tiered structural or typological because no shared Strong's number is computable across the testaments and Matthew gives no citation formula anywhere in vv. 20-28.

Our own layer. The ⚙ material, including the pullquote, is machine synthesis and fallible. The pullquote is our line, not Scripture, and the Golgotha reading it compresses is marked novel in the sola reading: the lexical fact (Matthew's rare εὐώνυμος at 20:21 and 27:38) is sourced from the Verifier, the figural inference drawn from it is ours and 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)