The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew21:1–11

The Triumphal Entry

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Matthew 21:1–11 — The Triumphal Entry. 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.

1

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent out two disciples,

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Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hote ēngisan eis Hierosolyma kai ēlthon eis Bēthphagē eis to oros tōn Elaiōn tote Iēsous apesteilen dyo mathētas

Word by word19 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅτεhoteAsG3753
√ ὅτε — at which (thing) too, iAdverb
ἤγγισανēngisanthey approachedG1448
√ ἐγγίζω — to make near, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐγγίζω: to make near, draw nigh Aorist indicative active, third plural. The verb of Matthew's kingdom preaching (“the kingdom of heaven has drawn near”) is here applied to feet on a road. Ellicott fills in the omitted journey “up the narrow valley that leads from Jericho to Jerusalem,” with the multitude expecting that “He would at last announce Himself as the Christ.”
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἹεροσόλυμαHierosolymaJerusalemG2414
√ Ἱεροσόλυμα — Hierosolyma (iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦλθονēlthoncameG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ΒηθφαγὴBēthphagēBethphageG967
√ Βηθφαγή — fig-houseNounAccusative Feminine Singular
Βηθφαγή: house of figs The name is transparent Aramaic, and every commentator in the brief reads it: Ellicott, “the house of unripe figs”; Cambridge, “place of green or winter figs”; Pulpit, “House of figs.” Gill records competing derivations (house of a fountain, house of the mouth of a valley, even house of slaughter) before settling on figs. The name matters because the barren fig tree is cursed a few verses later in this same chapter.
εἰςeisonG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄροςorosMountG3735
√ ὄρος — perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄρος: mountain, hill country Accusative after εἰς: they come into the olive-bearing ridge, not merely near it. Gill's own footnote for this mount is Zechariah 14:4, where the LORD's feet stand on the Mount of Olives and it splits; Barnes adds that from its summit “almost every part of the city can be seen.” The place is therefore both prophetic stage and viewing platform for the lament Luke records.
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Plural
ἘλαιῶνElaiōnof OlivesG1636
√ ἐλαία — an olive (the tree or the fruit)NounGenitive Feminine Plural
τότεtoteG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
τότε: then, at that time Matthew's hinge adverb, left untranslated here.
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἀπέστειλενapesteilensent outG649
√ ἀποστέλλω — set apart, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀποστέλλω: to send with a commission Aorist active, third singular: after two plural verbs of arrival, one man acts. Pulpit calls the whole arrangement remarkable: “The deliberate preparation for the procession, and the intentional publicity, so contrary to Christ's usual habits.” Nothing in the entry is improvised; it begins with a sending.
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
δύο: two Ellicott and Gill both guess Peter and John from the parallel errand of Luke 22:8; the Gospels do not name them, and neither do we.
μαθητὰςmathētasdisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounAccusative Masculine Plural
2

saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to Me.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

legōn autois Poreuesthe eis tēn kōmēn tēn katenanti hymōn kai eutheōs heurēsete onon dedemenēn kai pōlon met’ autēs lysantes agagete moi

Word by word21 · parsed
λέγωνlegōnsayingG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisto themG846
√ 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
ΠορεύεσθεPoreuestheGoG4198
√ πορεύομαι — to traverse, iVerbPresent Imperative Middle or Passive2nd Person Plural
πορεύομαι: to traverse, journey Present imperative middle, second plural: set out and keep going.
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
κώμηνkōmēnvillageG2968
√ κώμη — a hamlet (as if laid down)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
κατέναντιkatenantiaheadG2713
√ κατέναντι — directly oppositePreposition
κατέναντι: directly opposite A rare preposition (8 verses). Pulpit reads the scene as gesture as well as speech: “Bethphage, to which he points as he speaks.” Ellicott leaves the identification open between Bethany and Bethphage itself. The point of the word is line of sight: the disciples can see where they are being sent.
ὑμῶνhymōnof youG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὐθέωςeutheōsat onceG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
εὑρήσετεheurēseteyou will findG2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ὄνονonona donkeyG3688
√ ὄνος — a donkeyNounAccusative Feminine Singular
δεδεμένηνdedemenēntied [there]G1210
√ δέω — to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Feminine Singular
δέω: to bind Perfect participle middle or passive. A state, not an event: the animal has been bound and remains so, waiting. Gill notes from Mark that it stood “tied to the door without, in a place where two ways met,” a public spot where an untying could not pass unseen, which is why v. 3 anticipates the challenge.
καὶkaiwithG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πῶλονpōlon[her] coltG4454
√ πῶλος — a "foal" or "filly", iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
πῶλος: foal, colt The Verifier's rarest common lexeme in this unit's parallels (11 verses): it links Matthew 21:2 to Mark 11:2, 4, 5, 7, Luke 19:30, 35 and John 12:15. Mark and Luke add that no man had ever sat on it. Pulpit records Jerome's mystical reading (the Jewish people under the yoke, the Gentiles as yet unbroken) and Gill the same allegory; we record it as ancient reading, not as the text's own claim.
μετ’met’besideG3326
√ 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
λύσαντεςlysantesUntie [them]G3089
√ λύω — to "loosen" (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
λύω: to loosen, untie Aorist participle active. Gill weighs the objection the disciples do not raise: “the appearance of theft, the scandal that might be brought upon them.” The right to loose another man's beast without asking is the point Ellicott presses: “They were to claim the right to use the beasts as for the service of a King.”
ἀγάγετέagagete[and] bring [them]G71
√ ἄγω — properly, to leadVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
μοιmoito MeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
ἐγώ: I, me The dative μοι is the last word of the command and its whole end.
3

If anyone questions you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ean tis eipē ti hymin ereite hoti HO Kyrios echei chreian autōn de apostelei autous euthys

Word by word17 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐάνeanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
τιςtisanyoneG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
εἴπῃeipēquestionsG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ἔπω: to speak, say Aorist subjunctive in a third-class condition: not whether, but when.
τιti. . .G5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
ἐρεῖτεereitetell [him]G2046
√ ἐρέω — an alternate for G2036 (ἔπω) in certain tensesVerbFuture Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ὅτιhotithatG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ὉHOtheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΚύριοςKyriosLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
κύριος: supreme in authority, lord The theological crux of the verse. Ellicott weighs three senses and concludes for the disciples' customary usage; Pulpit goes further, glossing it “equivalent to Jehovah, or the King Messiah,” and reads the whole transaction as Christ assuming “the character of the Divine Messiah, King of his people, the real Owner of all that they possess.” Barnes deliberately under-reads it as “master.” We record the disagreement rather than resolve it.
ἔχειecheivvvG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
χρείανchreianneedsG5532
√ χρεία — employment, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
χρεία: need, employment The one recorded ground of the requisition. Not weariness (Poole), not distance (Gill observes He “was just at it”), but need: the King requires this animal for an act He intends to perform. It is the only place in the Gospels where the Lord's need is asserted as a claim on property.
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 Masculine 3rd Person Plural
αὐτός: self, them Genitive plural, both animals, against the singular of Mark and Luke.
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἀποστελεῖaposteleihe will sendG649
√ ἀποστέλλω — set apart, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἀποστέλλω: to send off Future indicative. The same lexeme as v. 1's ἀπέστειλεν, now with a human subject: the sending Christ begins is completed by a stranger's compliance. Gill calls the foreknowledge here “a very clear proof of the omniscience of Christ,” and Poole makes the same argument from the disciples' success.
αὐτούςautousthemG846
√ 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
εὐθὺςeuthysright awayG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
4

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

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Greek — tap a word ↓

de Touto gegonen hina plērōthē to rhēthen dia tou prophētou legontos

Word by word11 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΤοῦτοToutoThisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Singular
γέγονενgegonentook placeG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbPerfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
γίνομαι: to come to be, happen Perfect indicative active. Ellicott notes the formula returns from Matthew 1:22, and that “at the time (as we find from John 12:16) the disciples did not understand its significance.” The perfect is the evangelist's own vantage, written after the resurrection taught him what the errand had been.
ἵναhinatoG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
πληρωθῇplērōthēfulfillG4137
√ πληρόω — to make replete, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Singular
πληρόω: to make replete, fulfil Aorist subjunctive passive, the hinge of Matthew's whole theology of citation. Benson presses the mutual sight: “As the prophets looked forward to him, and all bore witness to him; so he looked back upon them.” Pulpit adds that Christ “purposed to show that he fulfilled the prophecies which spake of him,” so the arrangement in vv. 2 to 3 is itself part of the fulfilment, not merely its occasion.
τὸtowhatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ῥηθὲνrhēthenwas spokenG2046
√ ἐρέω — an alternate for G2036 (ἔπω) in certain tensesVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Neuter Singular
ἐρέω: to speak, say Aorist passive participle, neuter: a word spoken and now standing spoken, capable of being filled.
διὰdiathroughG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
προφήτουprophētouprophetG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounGenitive Masculine Singular
προφήτης: foreteller, prophet Singular, though the quotation that follows is composite. Gill, Poole, Benson, Cambridge and Pulpit all observe that the opening line is from Isaiah 62:11 and the body from Zechariah 9:9; Gill notes that citing two prophets under one name “was usual with the Jews,” and the Ethiopic version supplied “Isaiah.” Matthew's single “the prophet” is thus a known convention, not an error.
λέγοντοςlegontosG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
5

“Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Eipate tē thygatri Siōn Idou sou ho Basileus erchetai soi praus kai epibebēkōs epi onon kai epi pōlon huion hypozygiou

Word by word20 · parsed
ΕἴπατεEipateSayG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
ἔπω: say, tell Aorist imperative, second plural: a command to heralds, and the one line of the citation that is not from Zechariah. Benson, Gill, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit all trace it to Isaiah 62:11, where the summons is followed by “behold, thy salvation cometh.” Gill notes the Targum renders the addressee “the congregation of Zion.” ⚙ So the quotation opens by commissioning someone to announce, which is precisely what the evangelist is doing by quoting it.
τῇtēto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
θυγατρὶthygatriDaughterG2364
√ θυγάτηρ — a female child, or (by Hebraism) descendant (or inhabitant)NounDative Feminine Singular
ΣιώνSiōnof ZionG4622
√ Σιών — Sion (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
Σιών: Zion The Verifier lists Σιών as one of only seven verses in the Greek NT, and as a shared lexeme with John 12:15. Barnes notes the hill held “the city of David and some strong fortresses,” so the address is dynastic as well as geographical: the King comes to the daughter of the fortress of David.
ἸδοὺIdouSeeG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΒασιλεύςBasileusKingG935
√ βασιλεύς — a sovereign (abstractly, relatively, or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Singular
βασιλεύς: sovereign, king The first explicit royal title in the unit, and it is a quotation: Matthew does not call Jesus king here, Zechariah does, and the crowd will answer with a Davidic title in v. 9. Pulpit weighs each word: “A King of thine own race, no stranger, one predestined for thee… Unto thee. For thy special good.”
ἔρχεταίerchetaicomesG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
σοιsoito youG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
πραῢςprausgentleG4239
√ πραΰς — mild, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
πραΰς: mild, gentle, meek The pivot of the citation. Ellicott's reading is the sharpest in the brief: the ideal King comes “not with chariot and horse and battle bow, like the conquerors of earthly kingdoms, but as a prince of peace,” yet claiming a dominion wider than David's. Poole notes that after Solomon's horse trade “only poor people rode upon asses,” so the mount itself preaches the adjective.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπιβεβηκὼςepibebēkōsridingG1910
√ ἐπιβαίνω — to walk upon, iVerbPerfect Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπιβαίνω: to walk upon, mount Perfect participle active, nominative, agreeing with the King: not the motion of riding but the settled state of one who has mounted and is seated. The tense does the theology. Zechariah's oracle is not describing a journey in progress but an enthronement posture, which is why v. 7's ἐπεκάθισεν (G1940, a hapax in the Greek NT) answers it with a single decisive act of sitting. Pulpit reads the whole picture as deliberate: He comes “invested with a certain dignity and pomp, yet in such humble guise as to discountenance all idea of temporal sovereignty.”
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
ὄνονonona donkeyG3688
√ ὄνος — a donkeyNounAccusative Feminine Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
πῶλονpōlona coltG4454
√ πῶλος — a "foal" or "filly", iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
πῶλος: colt, foal Cambridge counts three distinct Hebrew words for donkey in Zechariah's line (chamâr, air, athôn), which is why the Greek can look like two animals where the Hebrew means one described three ways. Poole says they “are exegetical of each other; the first denoted the species of the beast, the second its age.” Gill and Pulpit disagree, Gill holding that Christ rode both in turn.
υἱὸνhuion[the] foalG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ὑποζυγίουhypozygiouof a donkeyG5268
√ ὑποζύγιον — an animal under the yoke (draught-beast), iNounGenitive Neuter Singular
ὑποζύγιον: beast under the yoke A lexeme of only two verses in the Greek NT; the other is 2 Peter 2:16, Balaam's speaking donkey. The Verifier records that shared rare word. The yoke-word is the last word of the citation: the King of Zion is carried by a working animal, not a war horse.
6

So the disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hoi mathētai Poreuthentes kai poiēsantes kathōs ho Iēsous synetaxen autois

Word by word11 · parsed
δὲdeSoG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ΠορευθέντεςPoreuthenteswentG4198
√ πορεύομαι — to traverse, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
πορεύομαι: to traverse, journey Aorist participle passive in form, answering the present imperative of v. 2. Pulpit notes what they did not know: “They simply obeyed the order, not yet knowing what it portended.”
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ποιήσαντεςpoiēsantesdidG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ποιέω: to make or do Aorist participle active. Gill spells out the objections they never raise, and Poole draws the rule: “The true obedience of Christ's disciples is to be learned from the practice of these two disciples.”
καθὼςkathōsasG2531
√ καθώς — just (or inasmuch) as, thatAdverb
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
συνέταξενsynetaxenhad directedG4929
√ συντάσσω — to arrange jointly, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
συντάσσω: to arrange jointly, order Aorist indicative active, a rare verb (3 verses). Matthew uses it here, at the arranging of the Passover (26:19), and of the LORD's arrangement in the Jeremiah and Zechariah citation at 27:10. In all three the human act executes a settled arrangement made beforehand, which is exactly the claim v. 4 has just made about this errand.
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
7

They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ēgagon tēn onon kai ton pōlon kai epethēkan ta himatia ep’ autōn kai epekathisen epanō autōn

Word by word16 · parsed
ἤγαγονēgagonThey broughtG71
√ ἄγω — properly, to leadVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἄγω: to lead Aorist indicative active, the fulfilment of v. 2's imperative in the same lexeme.
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ὄνονonondonkeyG3688
√ ὄνος — a donkeyNounAccusative Feminine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
πῶλονpōloncoltG4454
√ πῶλος — a "foal" or "filly", iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπέθηκανepethēkanlaidG2007
√ ἐπιτίθημι — to impose (in a friendly or hostile sense)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπιτίθημι: to impose, lay upon Aorist indicative active. The gesture is royal investiture improvised from clothing. Henry draws the practical edge: “We must not think the clothes on our backs too dear to part with for the service of Christ.”
τὰtatheirG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιαhimatiacloaksG2440
√ ἱμάτιον — a dress (inner or outer)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιον: garment, outer dress The unit's material symbol of homage (58 verses), shared with Mark 11:7 and Mark 11:8 per the Verifier. The one scriptural precedent every commentator in the brief cites is 2 Kings 9:13, where Jehu's officers put their garments under him at his anointing. Gill adds the rabbinic gloss that it was done “that he might be higher than them all, suitable to the dignity of a king.”
ἐπ’ep’onG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
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 Masculine 3rd Person Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπεκάθισενepekathisen[Jesus] satG1940
√ ἐπικαθίζω — to seat uponVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπικαθίζω: to seat upon Aorist indicative active, third singular, and a hapax in the Greek NT. Against the plural verbs of the disciples, one singular act: He sat. Poole notes there was “no saddle, no costly furniture”; Pulpit concludes He came “invested with a certain dignity and pomp, yet in such humble guise as to discountenance all idea of temporal sovereignty.”
ἐπάνωepanōonG1883
√ ἐπάνω — up above, iPreposition
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 Masculine 3rd Person Plural
αὐτός: them Genitive plural, referent disputed: garments (Geneva, Pulpit) or animals (Gill, and the reading Alford defends).
8

A massive crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho pleistos ochlos estrōsan heautōn ta himatia en tē hodō de alloi ekopton kladous apo tōn dendrōn kai estrōnnyon en tē hodō

Word by word23 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
πλεῖστοςpleistosA massiveG4118
√ πλεῖστος — the largest number or very largeAdjectiveNominative Masculine SingularSuperlative
πλεῖστος: largest number, very great Superlative adjective. Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit divide over whether Matthew measures the crowd's size or its fraction. The stakes are real: if “the greater part,” then Matthew is already noting that some did not join, which fits the city's bewildered question in v. 10.
ὄχλοςochloscrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἔστρωσανestrōsanspreadG4766
√ στρώννυμι — to "strew," iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
στρώννυμι: to strew, spread Aorist indicative active. Ellicott names the precedent: “So Jehu, when the officers of the army of Israel chose him as their ruler, walked upon the garments which they spread beneath his feet.” Barnes and Cambridge add extra-biblical parallels (Josephus on Alexander and Agrippa; respect shewn to Rabbis). The act is royal acclamation, not mere enthusiasm.
ἑαυτῶνheautōntheirG1438
√ ἑαυτοῦ — him- (her-, it-, them-, also (in conjunction with the personal pronoun of the other persons) my-, thy-, our-, your-) self (selves), etcReflexive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ἱμάτιαhimatiacloaksG2440
√ ἱμάτιον — a dress (inner or outer)NounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἐνenonG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ὁδῷhodōroadG3598
√ ὁδός — a roadNounDative Feminine Singular
δὲdewhileG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἄλλοιalloiothersG243
√ ἄλλος — "else," iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἔκοπτονekoptoncutG2875
√ κόπτω — to "chop"VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
κόπτω: to chop, cut off Imperfect indicative active: a sustained cutting along the route.
κλάδουςkladousbranchesG2798
√ κλάδος — a twig or bough (as if broken off)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
κλάδος: twig, bough John 12:13 specifies palm; Gill notes olive was abundant here, and both he and Pulpit observe that the crowd is behaving as at the Feast of Tabernacles, where Leviticus 23:40 commands branches and Psalm 118 was sung. Gill piles up the rabbinic material on the Hosanna bundles (the Lulab) to show the festal grammar of the gesture, at Passover rather than Tabernacles.
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Plural
δένδρωνdendrōntreesG1186
√ δένδρον — a treeNounGenitive Neuter Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐστρώννυονestrōnnyonspread [them]G4766
√ στρώννυμι — to "strew," iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
στρώννυμι: to strew, spread Imperfect of the same verb as word 4: the strewing continues while the King advances.
ἐνenonG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ὁδῷhodōroadG3598
√ ὁδός — a roadNounDative Feminine Singular
9

The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hoi ochloi hoi proagontes auton kai hoi akolouthountes ekrazon legontes Hōsanna tō huiō Dauid Eulogēmenos ho erchomenos en onomati Kyriou Hōsanna en tois hypsistois

Word by word25 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ὄχλοιochloicrowdsG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounNominative Masculine Plural
οἱhoithatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
προάγοντεςproagonteswent aheadG4254
√ προάγω — to lead forward (magisterially)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
προάγω: to lead forward, go before Present participle active. Pulpit identifies the two bodies: the Bethany company travelling with Him, and the crowd that poured out of Jerusalem after news of Lazarus (John 12:18), which met Him and then “turned back again and preceded him into the city.”
αὐτὸνautonof HimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoithose thatG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκολουθοῦντεςakolouthountesfollowedG190
√ ἀκολουθέω — properly, to be in the same way with, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ἀκολουθέω: to follow, be in the same way with Present participle active. Strong's root sense is instructive here: to be in the same road with someone. Those in front and those behind are on one road, and the shout comes from both ends of it.
ἔκραζονekrazonwere shoutingG2896
√ κράζω — properly, to "croak" (as a raven) or scream, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
κράζω: to croak, scream, cry out Imperfect indicative active: sustained crying, not a single cheer.
λέγοντεςlegontesG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ὩσαννὰHōsannaHosannaG5614
√ ὡσαννά — oh save!Hebrew Word
ὡσαννά: oh save! Parsed in the interlinear as a Hebrew word carried untranslated into Greek. Cambridge and Geneva both give the underlying hoshiah-na of Psalm 118:25, and Geneva ties it to the Tabernacles boughs of Leviticus 23:40. Gill devotes his longest note in this unit to the rabbinic Hosanna, showing that the word came to name the seventh day of the feast and even the bundle of palm, willow and myrtle shaken at this very verse of the psalm. ⚙ The crowd is therefore praying, in festival language, for salvation from the one whose name means the LORD saves.
τῷtōto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
υἱῷhuiōSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounDative Masculine Singular
υἱός: son Dative: the shout is addressed to the Son of David. Gill: “by calling Jesus the Son of David, they owned and proclaimed him to be the Messiah; this being the usual title by which the Messiah was known among the Jews.”
ΔαυίδDauidof DavidG1138
√ Δαβίδ — Dabid (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ΕὐλογημένοςEulogēmenosBlessed isG2127
√ εὐλογέω — to speak well of, iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
εὐλογέω: to speak well of, bless Perfect participle middle or passive, straight from Psalm 118:26. A settled state of blessedness, not a wish newly formed.
ὁhoHeG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐρχόμενοςerchomenoswho comesG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἔρχομαι: to come Present participle, functioning as the messianic title Habba (Cambridge). Barnes notes the psalm phrase “in the name of the Lord” means “by the authority of the Lord,” or according to His promise, and that the Jews had commonly applied the verse to the Messiah.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ὀνόματιonomati[the] nameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounDative Neuter Singular
ΚυρίουKyriouof [the] LordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ὩσαννὰHōsannaHosannaG5614
√ ὡσαννά — oh save!Hebrew Word
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τοῖςtoistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Plural
ὑψίστοιςhypsistoishighestG5310
√ ὕψιστος — highest, iAdjectiveDative Neuter PluralSuperlative
ὕψιστος: highest Superlative, dative plural: the heights, heaven itself. Barnes offers two readings; Ellicott compares Luke 2:14 and treats the cry as claiming “heaven as in accord with earth in this recognition.”
10

When Jesus had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autou eiselthontos eis Hierosolyma hē pasa polis eseisthē legousa Tis estin houtos

Word by word13 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautouWhen [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 PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εἰσελθόντοςeiselthontoshad enteredG1525
√ εἰσέρχομαι — to enter (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
εἰσέρχομαι: to enter Aorist participle in a genitive absolute. Pulpit reads the timing as sacrificial: on the tenth of Nisan the Paschal lamb was taken up (Exodus 12:3, 6), so “the true Paschal Lamb now is escorted to the place where alone the Passover could be sacrificed.”
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἹεροσόλυμαHierosolymaJerusalemG2414
√ Ἱεροσόλυμα — Hierosolyma (iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
πᾶσαpasawholeG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
πᾶς: all, whole Cambridge estimates the Passover throng from a census under Nero and pictures “the narrow streets of Jerusalem thronged with eager inquisitive crowds demanding, with Oriental vivacity, in many tongues and dialects.”
πόλιςpoliscityG4172
√ πόλις — a town (properly, with walls, of greater or less size)NounNominative Feminine Singular
ἐσείσθηeseisthēwas stirredG4579
√ σείω — to rock (vibrate, properly, sideways or to and fro), iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
σείω: to rock, shake Aorist indicative passive, and the strongest verb in the unit. Matthew alone reports the commotion, and he uses the earthquake word: the same verb shakes the earth at the crucifixion (27:51). Pulpit sorts the motives inside one convulsion, Rome expecting a rising, the Pharisees roused to envy, the Herodians dreading a usurper, the people hoping for victory, and recalls that the city was shaken once before, when the Wise Men asked for the newborn King (2:3). ⚙ Matthew's narrative thus frames the whole life between two shakings of Jerusalem and a third at the cross.
λέγουσαlegousa[and] askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
ΤίςTisWhoG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
τίς: who? The city's question, and the unit's real climax. Everything sourced has already answered it (Zechariah's King, David's Son, the Coming One in the name of the LORD); the city asks anyway, and the answer it accepts in v. 11 is the smallest true one.
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
οὗτοςhoutosthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
11

The crowds replied, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hoi ochloi elegon Houtos estin Iēsous ho prophētēs ho apo Nazareth tēs Galilaias

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiTheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ὄχλοιochloicrowdsG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounNominative Masculine Plural
ἔλεγονelegonrepliedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἔπω: to say Imperfect indicative active: a repeated answer, given over and over to a city full of strangers.
ΟὗτόςHoutosThisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
προφήτηςprophētēsprophetG4396
√ προφήτης — a foreteller ("prophet")NounNominative Masculine Singular
προφήτης: foreteller, prophet With the article, and this is the unit's last theological word. Ellicott judges the answer honestly: it “fell short of the full meaning of the shouts of the people,” but “expressed that aspect of the character of Jesus which was most intelligible to strangers.” Poole will not concede it is empty: the title distinguishes Him as “the Prophet foretold, Deu 18:15, 18, 19.” ⚙ So the crowd names a true office one rank below the one the psalm and the donkey have just asserted.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀπὸapofromG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
ΝαζαρὲθNazarethNazarethG3478
√ Ναζαρέθ — Nazareth or Nazaret, a place in PalestineNounGenitive Feminine Singular
Ναζαρέθ: Nazareth Pulpit notes that Matthew 2:23 had already made this name a fulfilment, and that the appellation “clung to our Lord through all his earthly life,” quoting Isaac Williams on the many mouths that used it: priests in hate, Pilate in mockery, angels in adoration, Christ Himself in lowliness at Acts 22:8.
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ΓαλιλαίαςGalilaiasin GalileeG1056
√ Γαλιλαία — Galilæa (iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
Γαλιλαία: Galilee Genitive, attached to Nazareth: the crowd gives not only a town but a province, and it is the wrong province for a Messiah. Benson sees the obstacle they hand to the pilgrims: “If he was of Nazareth, he could not be the Messiah.” ⚙ Matthew has already answered that objection twice in his own voice, at 2:23 (called a Nazarene) and at 4:15 to 16 (Galilee of the Gentiles, where the light has dawned), so the crowd's insufficient answer is one the Gospel itself has prepared the reader to hear correctly.

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 arranged approach: two disciples and a borrowed beast — 1 to 3

Matthew opens with plural verbs of arrival (ἤγγισαν, ἦλθον) and then one singular act of commissioning, ἀπέστειλεν (G649). Ellicott fills in the gap Matthew leaves, the climb “up the narrow valley that leads from Jericho to Jerusalem,” and records the crowd's expectation that He would “at last announce Himself as the Christ.” Pulpit presses what is strangest about the scene: the deliberate preparation and the intentional publicity are “so contrary to Christ's usual habits” that they can only be explained by His now assuming the office of Messiah. The errand itself is precise to the point of prescience: Benson, quoting Whitby, lists seven particulars foretold, and Gill and Poole both argue from the outcome to “the omniscience of Christ.” The one word on which the whole requisition turns is Κύριος (G2962), and the brief's voices genuinely divide over it: Barnes deliberately under-reads it as “master,” Ellicott weighs three senses and settles on the disciples' customary title, while Pulpit glosses it “equivalent to Jehovah, or the King Messiah” and reads Christ as claiming to be “the real Owner of all that they possess.” ⚙ We record the division rather than settle it; what is not in dispute is that the claim is made and instantly honoured.

ii. The citation: Zion's King, gentle, on a working animal — 4 to 5

The perfect tense γέγονεν (G1096) steps out of the narrative into the evangelist's own present, and Ellicott catches it: “Literally, all this has come to pass. The words are his comment on the act,” added because at the time, as John 12:16 says, the disciples did not understand. Pulpit insists that ἵνα here is final, not consecutive: it names Christ's purpose, so the staged errand of vv. 2 to 3 is part of the fulfilling and not merely its occasion. The quotation is composite, and Gill, Poole, Benson, Cambridge and Pulpit all say so: the opening summons is Isaiah 62:11, the body Zechariah 9:9, joined under one “the prophet” by a convention Gill says “was usual with the Jews.” Inside it stand the two words that define this kingship. πραΰς (G4239) renders Zechariah's Hebrew for poor and afflicted; Gill records the substitution, and Ellicott draws out its polemic: the King comes “not with chariot and horse and battle bow, like the conquerors of earthly kingdoms, but as a prince of peace,” yet with a dominion wider than David's or Solomon's. And ὑποζυγίου (G5268), which Ellicott notes is a different word from the ὄνος just used, means a beast under the yoke: the King of Zion is carried by a working animal. Cambridge counts Zechariah's three Hebrew nouns for donkey, which is why the Greek can read as two beasts where the Hebrew described one three ways, and Poole holds the clauses “exegetical of each other,” while Gill argues Christ rode both in turn.

iii. The acclamation: garments, branches, and a psalm turned into a name — 6 to 9

Obedience is narrated in two aorist participles and one rare verb, συνέταξεν (G4929, only three verses in the Greek NT, the others being the Passover arrangement of Matthew 26:19 and the potter's field citation of 27:10). Poole turns it into a rule of discipleship: they “dispute not the commands of their Lord, nor make objections,” and Gill notes the objections available to them, “the appearance of theft, the scandal.” Then the homage. Garments are laid on the beasts (ἐπέθηκαν, G2007) and then on the road (ἔστρωσαν, G4766), and every commentator in the brief traces the gesture to one text, 2 Kings 9:13: Barnes bare, Ellicott with Jehu named, Cambridge calling it “the throne extemporised for Jehu.” Branches are cut with an imperfect verb, on and on. Gill and Pulpit both observe that the crowd is keeping Tabernacles at Passover, which is precisely why the psalm they shout is Psalm 118, the great Hallel. Cambridge gives the Hebrew behind Ὡσαννά: “hoshiah-na, save now, save I pray,” the opening of Psalm 118:25, and says the crowd “recognise the Messiah in Jesus and address to Him the strains of their most joyous festival.” Ellicott sorts the mingled cries of all four Gospels and adds the detail Matthew omits: He will not silence them at the Pharisees' bidding, yet the tears were running down His face as He looked at the walls. Benson explains why the silence of earlier chapters ends here: the acclamations are permitted so “that they might be a public testimony against their wickedness, who, in four or five days after, cried out, Crucify him.” Henry says the same thing with a colder edge: “The changing multitude join the cry of the day, whether it be Hosanna, or Crucify him.”

iv. The city shaken, and the answer that falls short — 10 to 11

Matthew alone records the city's reaction with ἐσείσθη (G4579, “to rock, shake”), and Cambridge measures the word: “forcible, convulsed or stirred as by an earthquake, or by a violent wind,” the same verb as the earthquake of Matthew 27:51. Gill hears an Old Testament echo in the idiom, Ruth 1:19, where all the city was moved about Naomi. Pulpit lays out the competing motives in the commotion (Rome expecting a rising, the Pharisees roused to envy, the Herodians dreading a usurper, the crowd hoping for victory) and adds the calendar: on the tenth of Nisan the Paschal lamb was selected and taken up, so “the true Paschal Lamb now is escorted to the place where alone the Passover could be sacrificed.” The city asks Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος, and the answer it receives is true and too small: “the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Ellicott notes it “fell short of the full meaning of the shouts of the people.” Poole will not call it nothing, since the title distinguishes Him as “the Prophet foretold, Deu 18:15,” and Gill agrees that this is the prophet Moses spoke of. Benson sees the stumbling block in the address: if of Nazareth, he could not be the Messiah, yet an honest inquirer “would find, he was not of Nazareth, but Bethlehem.” Pulpit closes with Isaac Williams: friends, foes, priests in hate, Pilate in mockery, angels in adoration, all proclaim Him “of Nazareth.”

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

⚙ Read under Sola Scriptura, and offered to be tested: this passage is the one place in the Gospels where Jesus stages something. Everywhere else He withdraws, silences, tells men to say nothing; here He arranges transport, sends messengers ahead, supplies the words they are to use, and mounts. Matthew tells us why in v. 4, and the tense he uses (γέγονεν, perfect) shows he is looking back from after Easter at an act whose meaning the participants missed at the time. What Jesus stages is a contradiction held in one image. He claims a King's right to requisition property with three words, “the Lord has need,” and then exercises that right to obtain a working animal and a saddle of other men's coats. The prophecy He is filling full does not say the King is poor by accident; it says He is πραΰς, and Zechariah's Hebrew underneath says afflicted. So the lowliness is not the limit of the claim, it is the content of the claim. Two things follow that the crowd could not yet hold together. First, their cry is better than their understanding: they shout a prayer, hoshiah-na, save now, and they are shouting it at the one whose name means the LORD saves, so the petition and its answer are in the same sentence without their knowing it. Second, the city's question, “Who is this?”, gets a real but short answer, and Matthew leaves it short on purpose. A prophet from Galilee is the most that eyes can report; the King of Zion is what the psalm and the donkey together assert. Between those two answers lies the whole distance the rest of the week will travel, from the garments on the road to the garments divided at the cross.

They shouted save now at the one whose name is the salvation, and called it a welcome. (This line is machine synthesis, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

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

The citation itself: Zechariah's gentle King and Isaiah's summons structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew 21:5 is a quotation, and the brief's commentators agree on its seams: the opening line “Say to the daughter of Zion” is from Isaiah 62:11, the rest from Zechariah 9:9. Gill notes that combining two prophets under one heading “was usual with the Jews”; Poole quotes Zechariah whole and observes that Matthew “quotes no more of them than served for his purpose,” dropping “he is just, and having salvation.” Ellicott adds that the Greek seems cited from memory. ⚙ Because the source is Hebrew and the citation Greek, no shared Strong's number can be computed for this pair, so the strongest tier available to us is structural, even though the link is an explicit quotation and not a mere motif.

Zechariah 9:9 · Isaiah 62:11

basis: Explicit citation in the BSB text of v. 4 to 5, named as Zechariah 9:9 plus Isaiah 62:11 by Gill, Poole, Benson, Cambridge and Pulpit. Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew) pairing leaves no computable shared Strong's lexeme, so the verbal tier is unavailable; we record the citation under structural / thematic

Hosanna: Psalm 118 shouted at the one it asks for structural / thematic: confirmed

The crowd's words in v. 9 are Psalm 118:25 to 26. Cambridge gives the Hebrew, “hoshiah-na, save now, save I pray,” and notes that the verse “was sung in solemn procession round the altar at the feast of Tabernacles.” Barnes lists the Hallel psalms sung at the festivals; Ellicott observes that these were the verses with which Jerusalem welcomed arriving pilgrims, now redirected to one rider; Pulpit adds that “He that cometh” (Habba) was already a recognised Messianic title, as Cambridge also says. Psalm 118:27 supplies the festal branches, and Gill's rabbinic material shows the Hosanna bundles were shaken at exactly this verse. ⚙ The transfer is the point: a formula of general blessing becomes a personal confession.

Psalm 118:25-26 · Psalm 118:27

basis: Explicit quotation in the BSB text of v. 9, identified as Psalm 118:25 to 26 by Barnes, Cambridge, Pulpit, Geneva, Gill and Poole. Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew) pairing leaves no computable shared Strong's lexeme, so the verbal tier is unavailable and the basis is recorded here as an explicit citation under structural / thematic

The colt in four Gospels: πῶλος, ὄνος, Σιών verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier's strongest computed link for this unit is John 12:15, sharing three lexemes with Matthew 21: πῶλος (G4454, 11 verses), ὄνος (G3688, only 5 verses) and Σιών (G4622, 7 verses). Mark 11:2, 4, 5, 7 and Luke 19:30, 35 share the same rare colt-word. Ellicott notes that Mark and Luke name the colt only, and that John uses a diminutive; Poole and Gill both work through the difference and conclude Matthew adds the mother “for the fulfilling of the prophecy.” ⚙ This is a Greek to Greek verbal link with a genuinely rare lexeme, so it can carry the verbal tier, and all refs are within the New Testament.

John 12:15 · Mark 11:7 · Luke 19:35

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4454 πῶλος (in 11 vv), G3688 ὄνος (in 5 vv) and G4622 Σιών (in 7 vv) with John 12:15; G4454 πῶλος also shared with Mark 11:7 and Luke 19:35. Rare lexemes, Greek to Greek, all refs within the NT

The beast under the yoke: two verses only, and Balaam's donkey is the other verbal / quotation: confirmed

ὑποζύγιον (G5268, “an animal under the yoke, a draught-beast”) occurs in only two verses of the Greek NT. One is this citation, where Ellicott flags that Matthew has changed words: “Literally, of a beast of burden, the word not being the same as that previously used.” The other, which the Verifier records, is 2 Peter 2:16, where Balaam is rebuked by his hypozygion, the donkey given a voice against a prophet who sold his. ⚙ The comparison is ours and we do not press it as Matthew's intent; but the lexeme is rare enough that the verbal link itself is beyond question, and the juxtaposition of a hired prophet corrected by a yoke-beast with a true King carried by one is at least worth the reader's weighing.

2 Peter 2:16

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G5268 ὑποζύγιον (in 2 vv), the rarest shared lexeme in this unit's candidates; both refs are NT (Greek to Greek). The thematic comparison drawn in the body is machine synthesis, the verbal link is computed

Garments under a king: Jehu's extemporised throne structural / thematic: confirmed

Every commentator in the brief who touches v. 7 or v. 8 cites one precedent, and only one: 2 Kings 9:13, where Jehu's officers take their garments and put them under him at his anointing. Barnes cites it bare; Cambridge calls it “the throne extemporised for Jehu”; Ellicott names the officers and adds the pagan parallel of Agamemnon's carpets; Gill adds the rabbinic explanation that it was done “that he might be higher than them all, suitable to the dignity of a king,” and Poole says the custom is attested in profane authors too. ⚙ The link is a shared royal-acclamation practice, not a quotation, and the cross-Testament pairing rules out any computed lexeme.

2 Kings 9:13

basis: Shared royal-acclamation practice (garments spread under a newly acclaimed king), cited at this verse by Barnes, Cambridge, Ellicott, Gill and Poole. Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and the verbal tier is unavailable

Branches in the hand: Tabernacles kept at Passover structural / thematic: confirmed

The crowd cuts and strews κλάδους (G2798, boughs “as if broken off”), and John 12:13 specifies palm. Geneva ties the shout and the branches together at their source: the Hosanna “they voiced in the feast of Tabernacles, when they carried boughs according as God commanded; Le 23:40.” Gill assembles the rabbinic law of the Lulab bundles to the same end, and notes that the Maccabees used palms for a victory that was not Tabernacles either (1 Maccabees 13:51). Psalm 118:27 belongs to the same festival complex. ⚙ So the gesture is liturgically wrong for the season and exactly right for the meaning: Pulpit says they behaved “as if at the Feast of Tabernacles, roused by enthusiasm to unpremeditated action.”

Leviticus 23:40 · John 12:13

basis: Shared festal practice of carrying and strewing branches, with Leviticus 23:40 cited at this verse by Geneva and Gill and John 12:13 naming the palms. The Leviticus pairing is cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable; John 12:13 is not offered here as a verbal link but as the parallel account

This mountain: where the LORD's feet stand, and where David wept typological

Matthew twice fixes the location at the Mount of Olives. Gill's own footnote for that mount in this verse is Zechariah 14:4, where the LORD comes and His feet stand on the Mount of Olives, and it splits east and west; Barnes notes the summit overlooks the whole city. ⚙ Two figural readings are worth stating with different confidence. That the Olivet of Zechariah 14 and the Olivet of Matthew 21 are the same prophetic stage is an ancient association, carried in Gill's citation and in the Targum reference he attaches. That David's ascent of this same slope weeping and barefoot, betrayed and leaving his city (2 Samuel 15:30), stands as a figure of the Son of David ascending it acclaimed and then weeping over the city (Luke 19:41) is a reading we offer as figural and do not find asserted in the brief's voices; we mark it as ours.

Zechariah 14:4 · 2 Samuel 15:30

basis: Figural reading of a shared location. The Zechariah 14:4 contact is the ancient association, carried by Gill's own footnote to the Mount of Olives at Matthew 21:1; the 2 Samuel 15:30 pairing (David's ascent in tears) is a novel figural reading offered by this synthesis, not found in the brief's voices. Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and no verbal tier is possible

Judah's colt, tied to the vine typological

Ellicott traces Zechariah's wording back one more step: “In the Hebrew of Zechariah the word reproduces the old poetic phraseology of Genesis 49:11,” where Judah's ruler binds his foal to the vine and washes his garments in wine, in the oracle that promises the sceptre will not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes. ⚙ The reading is figural and Ellicott's linguistic observation is the only sourced part of it. We mark the figure as ancient in substance (the Judah-sceptre oracle was read messianically long before Matthew), while noting that the specific chain from Genesis 49:11 through Zechariah 9:9 to this donkey is stated in the brief only by Ellicott.

Genesis 49:10-11

basis: Figural reading, with Ellicott's sourced observation that Zechariah's Hebrew reproduces the poetic phraseology of Genesis 49:11 as the recorded link. Widely-held messianic reading of the Judah oracle; cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and the verbal tier is unavailable

συντάσσω: the three arrangements in Matthew verbal / quotation: confirmed

The verb behind “as Jesus had directed them” in v. 6 is συνέταξεν (G4929, “to arrange jointly”), and the Verifier finds it in only three verses. The other two are both in Matthew: 26:19, where the disciples prepare the Passover “as Jesus had directed,” and 27:10, inside the potter's field citation, “as the Lord directed me.” ⚙ The pattern is striking and we name it as ours: in all three, a human act executes an arrangement settled beforehand, twice by Jesus and once by the LORD in a prophet's oracle. The verbal link is computed; the theological weight we place on it is synthesis.

Matthew 26:19 · Matthew 27:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4929 συντάσσω (in 3 vv) with Matthew 26:19 and Matthew 27:10. A rare lexeme, all three occurrences within Matthew (Greek to Greek)

The synoptic parallel, and the one word that fixes the geography verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 11:1 to 10 and Luke 19:29 to 40 narrate the same entry, and the Verifier's computed bases include κατέναντι (G2713, “directly opposite,” only 8 verses) shared with both Mark 11:2 and Luke 19:30, plus ὡσαννά (G5614, 5 verses) shared with Mark 11:10. Poole's method is to read all three together, “that I may at once give the story perfect,” and he supplies Mark's detail of the colt “tied by the door without in a place where two ways met” and Luke's “the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?” JFB simply refers the whole exposition to Luke 19:29 to 40.

Mark 11:2 · Luke 19:30 · Mark 11:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2713 κατέναντι (in 8 vv) with Mark 11:2 and Luke 19:30, and G5614 ὡσαννά (in 5 vv) with Mark 11:10. Rare lexemes, Greek to Greek, all refs within the NT

Loosing what was bound structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier pairs this unit with Luke 13:15 on ὄνος (G3688, 5 verses) and λύω (G3089, 39 verses): the sabbath argument where every man looses his donkey from the stall and leads it to water. ⚙ The verbal overlap is real and computed, but the shared content is only the ordinary handling of livestock, so we tier this structural rather than verbal and note that the resemblance may be nothing more than shared vocabulary for an everyday act. Readers who hear more in it (the Lord loosing what was tied, on His own authority, against objection) should know that is our hearing, not the Verifier's finding.

Luke 13:15

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G3688 ὄνος (in 5 vv) and G3089 λύω (in 39 vv) with Luke 13:15. Deliberately downgraded from verbal to structural: the shared words describe the ordinary loosing of a donkey, and no quotation or allusion is claimed

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The King who comes gentle, and means it ancient/widely-held

The text itself names Him King, in a quotation Matthew says He set out to fill full. Zechariah's πραΰς (G4239) is not modesty about the claim, it is the shape of the claim: Ellicott contrasts “chariot and horse and battle bow” with “a prince of peace” whose dominion runs “from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” Henry puts it in one line: “When Christ would appear in his glory, it is in his meekness, not in his majesty, in mercy to work salvation.” Geneva's marginal note frames the same paradox as ascent by descent: “Christ by his humility, triumphing over the pride of this world, ascends to true glory by the shame of the cross.” Poole notes what the meanness of the procession accomplished politically, that Herod's and Pilate's men were put out of fear and left Him alone until His hour. Benson refuses to apologise for it: “Was it a mean attitude wherein our Lord then appeared? mean even to contempt? We grant it: we glory in it.” ⚙ The same adjective is His self-description in Matthew 11:29 and His beatitude in 5:5, so the mount is consistent with the whole teaching, not a costume for one morning.

Zechariah 9:9 · Matthew 11:29 · Matthew 5:5

The Lamb led up on the tenth of Nisan ancient/widely-held

Pulpit supplies the calendar: “On the tenth of this month the Paschal lamb was selected and taken up preparatory to its sacrifice four days after (Exodus 12:3, 6). So the true Paschal Lamb now is escorted to the place where alone the Passover could be sacrificed.” Benson independently reaches the same reckoning, counting five days before the death and noting that on the tenth “Christ our passover, who was to be sacrificed for us, was publicly shown,” and calling the entry “the prologue to his passion.” Cambridge dates the day Nisan 9 rather than 10, so the commentators in this brief do not fully agree on the number. ⚙ The reading does not depend on the exact date: what the two independent voices see is that the crowd's escort is a procession toward an altar, and that the acclamation and the sacrifice are four or five days apart by the same calendar.

Exodus 12:3 · Exodus 12:6

Hosanna: the petition and the name novel

Cambridge and Geneva both unpack the shout: “Hoshiang-na, which is as much as to say, Save I pray thee,” the first words of Psalm 118:25. Henry says the same, “Hosanna signifies, Save now, we beseech thee.” ⚙ Here is the reading we offer as our own and mark as novel: the crowd is addressing an imperative prayer for salvation to a man whose given name, Ἰησοῦς (G2424), is the Greek of Yeshua, the LORD saves. They ask, in the words of the Hallel, for exactly what the name of the rider already asserts, and the city's answer in v. 11 will use that name without hearing it: “This is Jesus.” The brief's voices do not draw this connection, and we do not claim Matthew draws it explicitly either; we claim only that his narrative sets the petition and the name side by side in the space of three verses. Ellicott's note that “Hosanna to the Son of David” made the cry “a direct recognition of the claims of Jesus to be the Christ” is the sourced part; the wordplay is ours to be tested.

Psalm 118:25 · Matthew 1:21

Prophet, and more than prophet ancient/widely-held

The city's answer, “the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee,” is the last word of the unit, and Ellicott says it “fell short of the full meaning of the shouts of the people.” But Poole will not let it be dismissed: the title “was enough to distinguish him from other prophets, for he was Jesus a Saviour, and the Prophet foretold, Deu 18:15,” and Gill agrees that this is “that prophet Moses spoke of.” ⚙ So the crowd answers with an office that is true, scriptural, and insufficient: Moses promised a prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen, and Matthew has just shown a King fulfilling Zechariah. Prophet is the answer the crowd can give; King is the answer the donkey and the psalm have already given. Benson notes the stumbling block they hand to strangers by saying Nazareth rather than Bethlehem, and that an honest inquirer would have found out the difference.

Deuteronomy 18:15 · Deuteronomy 18:18

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)
  • 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)

Text: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbers as given in the brief; all parse data, lexeme frequencies and thread bases are the Verifier's, not ours. Commentary is verbatim public-domain material quoted by anchor and expanded mechanically, so any oddity of spelling, punctuation or scripture-reference formatting inside a quotation belongs to the source (the Pulpit Commentary entry for v. 1 carries a visible OCR break, and Gill's entries for vv. 8 and 9 are capped in the brief; we did not quote the capped tails).

What is uncertain in this unit, honestly stated. (1) The pronoun in v. 7, “he sat on them”: Geneva and Pulpit refer it to the garments, Gill and the reading Alford defends to the two animals. The Greek does not decide it, and the received text and the modern editors differ over whether the verb is “they set him” or “he sat.” (2) The number of animals ridden: Gill holds Christ rode both in turn; Poole, Barnes, Benson (quoting Campbell) and Pulpit hold the two nouns describe one beast, following Cambridge's count of three Hebrew words for donkey in Zechariah. (3) v. 8's πλεῖστος: Ellicott and Cambridge render “the greater part of the multitude,” Pulpit “the very great multitude.” We noted the ambiguity rather than choosing. (4) The sense of Κύριος in v. 3 is genuinely disputed among Barnes, Ellicott and Pulpit, from “master” to “equivalent to Jehovah.” (5) The date of the entry: Pulpit and Benson reckon Nisan 10, Cambridge Nisan 9.

On the badges. Every Old Testament citation in this unit (Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 62:11, Psalm 118:25 to 27, 2 Kings 9:13, Leviticus 23:40, Zechariah 14:4, Genesis 49:10 to 11, Exodus 12:3) is tiered structural / thematic or typological, never verbal, because a Greek text and a Hebrew text share no Strong's numbers and therefore no computable verbal basis exists, however explicit the quotation is on the page. Only the Greek to Greek links (John 12:15, the Mark and Luke parallels, 2 Peter 2:16, Matthew 26:19 and 27:10) carry the verbal tier, each on a rare shared lexeme named in its basis. The 2 Samuel 15:30 figure and the hoshiah-na wordplay are marked as ours, not the sources'.

✦ = 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)