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Matthew8:23–27

Jesus Calms the Storm

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Matthew 8:23–27 — Jesus Calms the Storm. 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.

23

When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai autō embanti eis to ploion autou hoi mathētai ēkolouthēsan autō

Word by word11 · parsed
ΚαὶKai[When]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτῷautōHeG846
√ 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
αὐτός: self, him (dative) The dative here is not the object of a verb but the person to whom the participle ἐμβάντι is attached, the construction English cannot carry without a subordinate clause.
ἐμβάντιembantigot intoG1684
√ ἐμβαίνω — to walk on, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveDative Masculine Singular
ἐμβαίνω: to step in, embark Aorist active participle, dative masculine singular. The dative participle construction binds the act of boarding to him personally and makes the disciples' following a response to it rather than a parallel action. Matthew spends no words on why they crossed; Benson supposes it was any who were desirous of learning and could get a passage, Gill that the multitude were being dismissed, Ellicott that Mark's "even as He was" points to exhaustion after a day of teaching.
εἰςeis. . .G1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πλοῖονploionboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
πλοῖον: boat, vessel Strong's derives it from the verb to sail; Barnes judges it a small open fishing boat with sails, the ordinary craft of the lake. The same noun is the shared lexeme the Verifier finds with Mark 4:37 and with Matthew 14:24, where another storm meets another boat.
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
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
μαθητής: a learner, disciple Strong's root gloss is simply "a learner." This is the last time in the unit the men in the boat are called that: by verse 27 they are ἄνθρωποι, human beings, and the change of noun is one of the quiet puzzles the commentators argue over.
ἠκολούθησανēkolouthēsanfollowedG190
√ ἀκολουθέω — properly, to be in the same way with, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἀκολουθέω: to be in the same way with Aorist indicative active, governing the dative rather than an accusative: the verb does not take him as an object but names him as the one whose way is shared. Here that way turns out to be open water in the dark, and the aorist reports the decision to share it, not the journey itself. Geneva reads the whole scene from this point: Christ often seems to neglect his own, and yet in due time brings them to the haven.
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
24

Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves. But Jesus was sleeping.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai idou megas seismos egeneto en tē thalassē hōste to ploion kalyptesthai hypo tōn kymatōn de autos ekatheuden

Word by word18 · parsed
καὶkaiSuddenlyG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἰδοὺidou. . .G2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
ἰδού: lo! behold! An imperative in form, an interjection in use. It is aimed at the reader, not at anyone in the boat.
μέγαςmegasa violentG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
σεισμὸςseismosstormG4578
√ σεισμός — a commotion, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
σεισμός: a commotion, a shaking Matthew's distinctive choice: where Mark 4:37 and Luke 8:23 have λαῖλαψ, the squall word (so Gill and Pulpit), Matthew writes the word for a convulsion. Gill takes it as more than ordinary, sudden and unexpected, the air serene when they set sail. The noun is not in the Verifier's shared-lexeme list for any candidate, which is itself a datum: at this word Matthew stands alone among the three accounts.
ἐγένετοegenetocame upG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
γίνομαι: to come to be, be generated Aorist indicative middle. Matthew's economy is severe: the storm is not described, it simply came to be. Verse 26 will use this identical form of the calm, so that the whole episode is framed by one verb doing opposite work at either end, with nothing between but a word from a man who had been asleep.
ἐνenonG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
θαλάσσῃthalassēseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounDative Feminine Singular
ὥστεhōsteso thatG5620
√ ὥστε — so too, iConjunction
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πλοῖονploionboatG4143
√ πλοῖον — a sailer, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
καλύπτεσθαιkalyptesthaiwas engulfedG2572
√ καλύπτω — to cover up (literally or figuratively)VerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
καλύπτω: to cover up Present infinitive, middle or passive, governed by ὥστε (G5620, "so that"): a result clause in continuous aspect. The boat is not said to sink; it is said to be going under, being covered, with the preposition ὑπό (G5259, "under") placing the waves over it as the agent. The picture is of being buried, not of being capsized.
ὑπὸhypobyG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Plural
κυμάτωνkymatōnwavesG2949
√ κῦμα — a billow (as bursting or toppling)NounGenitive Neuter Plural
κῦμα: a billow, as bursting or toppling A rare noun, standing in only 5 verses in the whole Greek text by the Verifier's count. Strong's root sense is a wave conceived as toppling over, which is exactly what the durative infinitive needs.
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
αὐτὸςautos[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 PronounNominative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
αὐτός: he himself (emphatic nominative) The pronoun is not required by the verb and is therefore emphatic, and it is set against the whole preceding clause by δέ: the sea shaking, the boat filling, but he. The English "But Jesus" supplies a name the Greek withholds.
ἐκάθευδενekatheudenwas sleepingG2518
√ καθεύδω — to lie down to rest, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
καθεύδω: to lie down to rest, to sleep Imperfect indicative active, continuous past. Poole reads it as proof that he was truly man, subject to like infirmities with us, sin only excepted, citing Hebrews 4:15; Gill answers the objection that a sleeping body contradicts deity by saying he slept as man, though as God he is Israel's keeper who neither slumbers nor sleeps. Pulpit sets the sleep against Jonah 1:5, where another man sleeps through a storm at sea, and the contrast is not a parallel but an inversion.
25

The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai proselthontes ēgeiran auton legontes Kyrie sōson apollymetha

Word by word8 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
προσελθόντεςproselthontes[The disciples] wentG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
προσέρχομαι: to approach, come to Aorist participle active, nominative masculine plural. Pulpit observes that the Revised Version drops "his disciples" here and reads only "they came to him," and that inserting the subject distracts from the bare fact of their coming: their skill and their long experience of those waters had now failed them. The Verifier finds this verb shared with Luke 8:24, the parallel cry.
ἤγειρανēgeiran[and] wokeG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐγείρω: to waken, to rouse Aorist indicative active. This is the unit's most easily lost word. It occurs twice: here in the active, with the disciples as subject and Jesus as object, and in verse 26 in the passive participle with Jesus as subject. The disciples rouse; he is roused; and the roused one speaks to the sea. Gill notes from Luke that the address was doubled, "Master, Master," and that the loudness of the repeated call shows how deeply he slept.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λέγοντεςlegontessayingG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΚύριεKyrieLordG2962
√ κύριος — supreme in authority, iNounVocative Masculine Singular
κύριος: supreme in authority Vocative. They give him the title before they have any idea what it covers, and by verse 27 the question is precisely what sort of person the title belongs to.
σῶσονsōsonsave usG4982
√ σώζω — to save, iVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
σῴζω: to save, deliver, make whole Aorist imperative active, no object expressed in the Greek here. Two things are true at once and the commentators split on which to weigh: Benson says the cry manifested both their faith in his power and their weakness in not considering who was with them in the ship, and Poole says the same in nearly the same words. Barnes reads it forward: there is none that can save from the storms of divine wrath but the Son of God.
ἀπολλύμεθαapollymethaWe are perishingG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbPresent Indicative Middle1st Person Plural
ἀπόλλυμι: to destroy fully, to perish Present indicative middle, first person plural. Pulpit: the last and most emphatic word comes in all the narratives, and they had no hope of escape from the death that was already overtaking them except through him. The word order of the Greek ends the sentence on it: Lord, save, we-are-perishing. The middle voice is not self-destruction but destruction undergone.
26

“You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oligopistoi Kai legei autois Ti este deiloi tote egertheis epetimēsen tois anemois kai tē thalassē kai egeneto megalē galēnē

Word by word19 · parsed
ὀλιγόπιστοιoligopistoi[You] of little faithG3640
√ ὀλιγόπιστος — incredulous, iAdjectiveVocative Masculine Plural
ὀλιγόπιστος: of little faith Vocative plural of a compound adjective, and a rare one: the Verifier's frequency is six verses in all. The other five candidates it lists are Matthew 6:30, 14:31, 16:8, 17:20 and Luke 12:28, which means every occurrence outside this verse also stands on the lips of Jesus and is addressed to disciples, never to opponents. It is a rebuke reserved for people who are already following him. Gill and Ellicott both note that the parallel forms in Mark and Luke are harsher ("how is it that ye have no faith," "where is your faith"), and Matthew's is the gentlest of the three.
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγειlegei[Jesus] repliedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
λέγω: to lay forth, to say Present indicative active, a historic present dropped into a chain of aorists. The narrative slows to let the words land before the miracle.
αὐτοῖςautois. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΤίTiwhyG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
ἐστεesteare youG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
δειλοίdeiloiso afraidG1169
√ δειλός — timid, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
δειλός: timid, cowardly A rare adjective, four verses by the Verifier's count. The company it keeps is severe: Mark 4:40 in the parallel rebuke, and Revelation 21:8 where it heads the catalogue of those outside. Matthew does not soften it and neither should a translation. Henry's pastoral reading holds the two together honestly: many that have true faith are weak in it, and Christ's disciples are apt to be disquieted with fears in a stormy day.
τότεtoteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
τότε: then, at that time Matthew's habitual narrative connective; here it marks the order Benson noticed, that he first composed the spirits of his disciples, then the sea.
ἐγερθεὶςegertheisHe got upG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἐγείρω: to waken, to rouse (passive) Aorist participle passive, nominative masculine singular: having been raised, not "He got up." The voice is the whole point. In verse 25 the disciples are the subject of the active ἤγειραν and he is its object; here he is the subject and the raising has already been done to him. Matthew records no self-rousing anywhere in the sequence. The Verifier confirms the lexeme also links this verse to Matthew 28:6, but reports it standing in 138 verses, far too common to tier as a verbal link, so nothing is built on that here; what is exact is the local pairing, two verses apart, in opposite voices.
ἐπετίμησενepetimēsen[and] rebukedG2008
√ ἐπιτιμάω — to tax upon, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπιτιμάω: to tax upon, to rebuke Aorist indicative active, governing two datives, the winds and the sea. Gill imagines the manner: he raises his head from his pillow, stands up, and with a majestic voice in an authoritative manner rebukes them as if they had exceeded their commission. Ellicott records Mark's actual words, "Peace, be still," which he renders literally be dumb, be muzzled. The verb treats the weather as a subject under authority, which is the precise claim verse 27 will be unable to absorb.
τοῖςtoistheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
ἀνέμοιςanemoiswindsG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounDative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τῇtētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
θαλάσσῃthalassēseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounDative Feminine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐγένετοegenetoit wasG1096
√ γίνομαι — to cause to be ("gen"-erate), iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
γίνομαι: to come to be Aorist indicative middle, the same form as in verse 24. The storm came to be; the calm came to be. Matthew's frame is closed with a single word.
μεγάληmegalēperfectlyG3173
√ μέγας — big (literally or figuratively, in a very wide application)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
μέγας: big, great The adjective that measured the storm in verse 24 now measures the calm, and it is the only measurement given. Ellicott: the work was at once instantaneous and complete, with no after-swell such as is commonly seen for hours after a storm.
γαλήνηgalēnēcalmG1055
√ γαλήνη — tranquillityNounNominative Feminine Singular
γαλήνη: tranquillity Strong's gloss is simply tranquillity; the noun occurs only at the close of this episode in the three synoptic accounts. Henry turns it inward: great storms of doubt and fear in the soul, under the power of the spirit of bondage, sometimes end in a wonderful calm, created and spoken by the Spirit of adoption. That is application and he means it as such; the verse itself reports only water.
27

The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Hoi de anthrōpoi ethaumasan legontes Potapos estin houtos hoti kai hoi anemoi kai hē thalassa hypakouousin autō

Word by word17 · parsed
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἄνθρωποιanthrōpoi[The] menG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounNominative Masculine Plural
ἄνθρωπος: a human being Matthew's switch from μαθηταί (v. 23) to ἄνθρωποι is unexplained and the whole commentary tradition trips on it. Pulpit thinks the crew, and rejects as far-fetched the reading that takes it of all who heard of the miracle; Gill allows that the other two evangelists refer the wonder to the disciples and supposes it had the same effect on both parties. The word is worth holding open: at the moment the question about Jesus is asked, Matthew stops calling the askers disciples and calls them simply people.
ἐθαύμασανethaumasanwere amazedG2296
√ θαυμάζω — to wonderVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
θαυμάζω: to wonder, marvel Aorist indicative active; Strong's gloss is bare, to wonder. Matthew reports the wonder alone, where Gill records that Mark has them fearing exceedingly and Luke that being afraid they wondered, and Gill reads the fear as reverence, a lustre of divine power appearing in the affair. Whatever the emotion, the verb stops short of worship: the verse ends on a question and Matthew supplies no answer to it.
λέγοντεςlegontes[and] askedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΠοταπόςPotaposWhat kind [of man]G4217
√ ποταπός — interrogatively, whatever, iInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Singular
ποταπός: of what sort, what manner of A rare interrogative, six verses by the Verifier's count. Two of the other holders are Mark 13:1 (what sort of stones are these) and 2 Peter 3:11 (what sort of people ought you to be), which means the word is used elsewhere of things whose true scale has just become visible. No noun follows it here. The sentence is grammatically unfinished in the direction of a category that does not yet exist for them.
ἐστινestinisG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
οὗτοςhoutosthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Singular
οὗτος: this one Demonstrative. They do not name him. He is "this one," the person in the stern who was asleep a minute ago.
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
καὶkaiEvenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἄνεμοιanemoiwindsG417
√ ἄνεμος — windNounNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἡhētheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
θάλασσαthalassaseaG2281
√ θάλασσα — the sea (genitive case or specially)NounNominative Feminine Singular
ὑπακούουσινhypakouousinobeyG5219
√ ὑπακούω — to hear under (as a subordinate), iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ὑπακούω: to hear under, as a subordinate Present indicative active with the dative. The verb, not the miracle, is the scandal: winds and sea are placed in the position of household servants and he in the position of the master. Poole draws the only conclusion the grammar allows, that it is he that rebuketh the waves of the sea when they roar, and Gill presses it to deity outright, since such a thing was never heard of, that the winds and the sea should be rebuked by a mere creature and should obey.
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
αὐτός: him (dative) Emphatic by position at the end of the sentence. The unit that began with three datives of this pronoun in verse 23 ends on one more, and the whole distance travelled is the distance between disciples following him and the sea obeying him.

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 dative that binds them to him — 8:23

Matthew spends eleven words on the embarkation and three of them are the same pronoun. αὐτῷ ἐμβάντι puts him in the dative, the boarding attached to his person; αὐτοῦ makes the disciples his; ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ puts him in the dative again as the one they share the road with, since ἀκολουθέω (G190, Strong's: to be in the same way with) governs the dative and not an accusative. Cambridge reads the article on τὸ πλοῖον as marking the boat Jesus habitually used; Pulpit, on the same words, thinks passage may have been given him at his request in a boat belonging to none of them, and asks whether Matthew saw a symbol of the Christian life in the very order of embarking. Geneva's marginal gloss states the frame the rest of the unit will test: although Christ often seems to neglect his own, even in most extreme dangers, yet in due time he calms all tempests. Gill, less cautiously, assigns a motive the verse does not give, that Christ took this method to be clear of the multitude and to try his disciples' faith.

ii. A shaking came to be, and he kept sleeping — 8:24

Two verbs carry the verse. ἐγένετο (G1096, aorist middle) says the shaking came to be, and ἐκάθευδεν (G2518, imperfect) says he kept on sleeping, the point event against the continuous one. Between them sits the result clause with καλύπτεσθαι in the present infinitive: the boat was in the process of being covered, which Pulpit hears exactly when he writes that the waves swept again and again clean over the boat and that slowly but surely it was filling. The noun Matthew chose is his own: σεισμὸς, a commotion, a shaking, where Gill and Pulpit both record that Mark and Luke have λαῖλαψ, the squall. Benson glosses it a great commotion, or agitation of the waters. Barnes supplies the topography from Thomson's travels, that the lake was subject to sudden squalls and could be seen to quiver and leap and boil like a caldron when driven by fierce winds from the eastern mountains. Cambridge fixes the strangeness of the other half: the expression in the original is very impressive, and this is the only place where the sleep of Jesus is named. Pulpit adds the four words the whole unit hangs on, that it is a contrast to Jonah.

ii. Lord, save: we are perishing — 8:25

The cry is three words and the middle one has no object in the Greek: Κύριε, σῶσον, ἀπολλύμεθα. The imperative is aorist, asking for one decisive act now; the last verb is present middle, and it is not a forecast. Gill hears it correctly as meaning not that they were in danger of being lost but that they were lost, with no rational method of escape left. Pulpit says the last and most emphatic word comes in all three narratives, and that they had no hope of escape from the death already overtaking them except through him. The commentators divide over what the cry proves. Benson and Poole, independently, say the same thing in nearly the same words: it argued both their faith in his power and their frailty in not considering who was with them in the ship. Barnes reads it further out, that this shows where sinners and Christians should always go, and that there is none who can save from the storms of divine wrath but the Son of God. Ellicott, importing Mark's harsher wording, thinks they were half angry at what looked like indifference. The verb they use on him, ἤγειραν (G1453), is the one Matthew will hand straight back in the passive in the next verse.

iv. Cowardly, little-faiths: the rebuke before the rebuke — 8:26

Both words of the reproach are rare and both are addressed, not described. δειλοί (G1169) stands in only four verses by the Verifier's count; ὀλιγόπιστοι (G3640) in six, and the other five are all on Jesus' lips to disciples. Ellicott judges the second singularly appropriate, since they had not altogether lost their trust in him but had not learnt the lesson of the centurion's faith; Cambridge simply glosses the root, faith equals trust, confidence. Gill locates the failure precisely: they had no faith in him as sleeping, only a little faith in him if he could be awaked, and he as the eternal God was as able to save them sleeping as waking. Benson notes the order, that he first composed the spirits of his disciples, then the sea. Then the grammar does something the English cannot: ἐγερθεὶς is an aorist passive participle, having been raised, answering their active ἤγειραν. He does not get up; he is got up, and then he taxes the weather. ἐπετίμησεν (G2008) is, as Ellicott says, almost our Lord's formula in miracle, used of fever and of the frenzy of the demoniac alike, and Mark preserves the words, which Ellicott renders literally be dumb, be muzzled. Pulpit points to Psalm 104:7 for the same charge laid on water. The closing clause repeats verse 24 word for word in reverse: ἐγένετο ... μεγάλη, the same verb, the same adjective. Pulpit sees the correspondence; BSB's "perfectly calm" loses it.

v. What sort is this one — 8:27

Matthew stops calling them disciples. They are ἄνθρωποι, people, and the change of noun has never been settled: Ellicott finds the term so vague as to suggest others were in the boat, Cambridge takes it of the disciples and the other fishermen, Pulpit and Gill lean to the crew. Their question has no noun in it. Ποταπός ἐστιν οὗτος is "what sort is this one," and Gill states the fact flatly, that the word "man" is not in the text; Pulpit, weighing the form against ποδαπός, concludes the word indicates the slightness of their knowledge of his character. What they can name is the behaviour of the weather: ὑπακούουσιν (G5219, Strong's: to hear under, as a subordinate), present tense, with the pronoun emphatic at the end. Poole answers for them, that it is he that rebuketh the waves of the sea when they roar and stilleth the ragings of the people, and that surely this is more than a man. Gill answers harder, that never was such a thing heard of, that the winds and the sea should be rebuked by a mere creature and should obey, and that this can be said of no other than the most high God. Barnes stands where the scene leaves them, in amazement in the presence of him who controlled the tempests that God had raised. Matthew leaves the question open; the verb leaves no room.

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

⚙ Offered as a fallible reading, to be tested against the text. The unit is built as a closed frame: ἐγένετο at verse 24 and ἐγένετο at verse 26, μέγας of the shaking and μεγάλη of the stillness. Whatever the storm was, the calm is its exact equal, and one word from a man just woken is the only thing standing between them. Inside that frame Matthew does something the translations cannot keep. The disciples raise him, ἤγειραν, active; he is raised, ἐγερθεὶς, passive; and it is the raised one who speaks to the sea. Their panic is not the obstacle to the miracle, it is the means of it, and Matthew does not praise them for that. He calls them δειλοί, a hard, rare word, and ὀλιγόπιστοι, a word he never lets anyone but Jesus use and never lets Jesus aim at anyone but his own. Both things are true at once, and the commentators who insist on only one of them (Gill, that their faith was as good as nothing; Henry, that many with true faith are weak in it) are each holding one end. Then note where the unit stops. It does not stop at worship. It stops at Ποταπός ἐστιν οὗτος, a question with no noun in it, asked by people Matthew has quietly stopped calling disciples. They have a category for a man who heals and no category for a man the weather serves, and they say so. If this is right, Matthew is not recording a lesson learned but a question opened, and he is content to leave the reader in the boat with it. The sea obeys; the men do not yet know what they are looking at; and the one who knows is the one who was asleep.

Not a verse, a fallible reading offered to be tested: they raise him, he is raised, and the raised one speaks to the sea.

⚙

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 storm told three times, and the rebuke that only two record verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25 carry the same crossing, and every commentator in this unit says so: JFB refers the whole exposition to Mark, Cambridge and Pulpit both name the two parallels at the head of their notes. The Verifier confirms real shared vocabulary rather than mere shared subject matter. Against Luke 8:24 it finds προσέρχομαι (G4334), ἀπόλλυμι (G622) and ἄνεμος (G417); against Mark 4:39 it finds μέγας and θάλασσα, both too common to weigh anything. The load-bearing link is Mark 4:40, which shares δειλός (G1169), a word standing in only four verses in the whole New Testament. Two of those four are this rebuke in its Matthean and Marcan forms. That is a verbal identity, not a theme.

Mark 4:39 · Mark 4:40 · Luke 8:24

basis: Verifier: Greek to Greek. Mark 4:40 shares the rare lexeme G1169 δειλός (in 4 vv) with Matthew 8:26; Luke 8:24 shares G4334 προσέρχομαι (85 vv), G622 ἀπόλλυμι (84 vv) and G417 ἄνεμος (29 vv); Mark 4:39 shares G3173 μέγας (231 vv) and G2281 θάλασσα (83 vv). The rare δειλός carries the verbal tier; the rest are common words consistent with independent report of one event.

δειλός: the timidity Christ names and Revelation excludes verbal / quotation: confirmed

δειλός (G1169, Strong's: timid) is not the New Testament's usual word for fear, and the Verifier's frequency count shows why it lands so hard: four verses in all. One is the parallel rebuke at Mark 4:40. Another is Revelation 21:8, where the δειλοί stand first in the list of those whose part is outside. Matthew puts the word in Jesus' mouth as a question to men who are following him in a sinking boat, which is a different setting entirely, and no conclusion about their standing should be drawn from the shared lexeme alone. What the rarity does establish is that the word is not casual. Henry's reading holds the tension without resolving it: many that have true faith are weak in it, and Christ's disciples are apt to be disquieted with fears in a stormy day.

Mark 4:40 · Revelation 21:8

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G1169 δειλός (in 4 vv), New Testament to New Testament. A verbal identity only; no citation is claimed in either direction, and the two contexts are not equated.

ὀλιγόπιστος: a word only one speaker in Scripture uses verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier finds ὀλιγόπιστος (G3640) in six verses. This is one; the other five it lists are Matthew 6:30, 14:31, 16:8, 17:20 and Luke 12:28. Every one of them is spoken by Jesus, and every one is addressed to people already following him, never to an opponent. The occasions form a series: clothing and anxiety (6:30), sinking on the water (14:31), forgotten loaves (16:8), a failed exorcism (17:20), ravens and lilies (Luke 12:28). Here it is the sea. Gill's cross-reference at this verse is to his own note on Matthew 6:30, which is the same observation made from the other end. Ellicott adds that the word is milder than Luke's parallel question, "Where is your faith?", and that its mildness is exact: they had not altogether lost their trust.

Matthew 6:30 · Matthew 14:31 · Matthew 16:8 · Matthew 17:20 · Luke 12:28

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G3640 ὀλιγόπιστος (in 6 vv), New Testament to New Testament; the five refs listed plus Matthew 8:26 account for the full count of six.

κῦμα: the toppling wave, and the second storm in this Gospel verbal / quotation: confirmed

κῦμα (G2949, Strong's: a billow, as bursting or toppling) is rare, standing in five verses. The Verifier finds it shared with Matthew 14:24, where a boat is again battered by waves and Jesus again comes to men at sea, with Acts 27:41, where a ship breaks up under the violence of the waves, and with Jude 1:13, where false teachers are called wild waves of the sea. Matthew 14 is the weightiest of the three within this Gospel: the same rare noun, the same lake, and a rebuke there in the same rare word ὀλιγόπιστε that closes this unit's reproach. The link is lexical and the theological weight of Jude's usage is figurative and separate; nothing here claims one text quotes another.

Matthew 14:24 · Acts 27:41 · Jude 1:13

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G2949 κῦμα (in 5 vv), New Testament to New Testament; Acts 27:41 also shares G5259 ὑπό (200 vv, common), Jude 1:13 also shares G2281 θάλασσα (83 vv, common).

ποταπός: the question asked when the scale of a thing becomes visible verbal / quotation: confirmed

The interrogative ποταπός (G4217) stands in six verses. The Verifier names two of them: Mark 13:1, where a disciple says what sort of stones and what sort of buildings are these, and 2 Peter 3:11, where the collapse of those same elements prompts the question what sort of people ought you to be. In all three places the word is reached for at the moment the true measure of something has just become apparent and the available categories will not hold it. Gill's observation that "man" is not in the Greek here matters for exactly this reason: the men in the boat are not asking what kind of man, they are asking what sort of thing this is, and the absent noun is the point. Pulpit reads their question as evidence of the slightness of their knowledge of his character.

Mark 13:1 · 2 Peter 3:11

basis: Verifier: shared rare Greek lexeme G4217 ποταπός (in 6 vv), New Testament to New Testament. Mark 13:1 also shares the common G3101 μαθητής (247 vv) and G2400 ἰδού (226 vv). No citation claimed; the tier rests on rarity of the interrogative alone.

The other man asleep in a storm at sea structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit writes four words at verse 24 and then leaves them: a contrast to Jonah 1:5. The contrast is exact in shape and reversed in every part. Jonah is below deck asleep because he is fleeing God, and the sailors wake him so that he will pray to his God; the sea is stilled only when he is thrown into it. Here the sleeper is woken and stills the sea himself by a word. The same ancient pattern stands behind Psalm 107:23-30, where those who go down to the sea in ships cry to the LORD in their trouble and he makes the storm a calm, which is the psalm Matthew Henry is echoing when he opens his note on this passage with "those who go down to the sea in ships." Pulpit also sends the reader to Psalm 104:7 for the rebuke laid on the waters. None of this can be tiered verbal: Matthew is Greek, Jonah and the Psalms are Hebrew, and shared Strong's numbers are impossible across the two languages. What can be recorded is the pattern, and that two of the three references are named by the brief's own commentators.

Jonah 1:4-6 · Psalm 104:7 · Psalm 107:23-30

basis: Cross-Testament: Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and no verbal tier is possible. Basis is the shared pattern of storm, sleeper, cry and stilling, explicitly recorded by Pulpit at Matthew 8:24 (Jonah 1:5) and at Matthew 8:26 (Psalm 104:7). The Psalm 107:23-30 reference is ⚙ synthesis on motif, not a Verifier candidate.

A Verifier candidate at Hebrews 12:28 that could not be confirmed flagged: verify source

The Verifier's candidate list returns Hebrews 12:28 for this unit on the basis of the rare lexeme δειλός (G1169). The other three δειλός verses it names, Mark 4:40, Revelation 21:8 and this one, are straightforward. Hebrews 12:28 is not: the fear word usually printed there is δέος, reverent awe, a different lexeme, and the identification with G1169 appears to depend on which lexicon mapping the tool is using. Rather than either assert the link or silently drop a computed candidate, it is recorded here and flagged. A reader with the Greek text should check it before any weight is placed on it, and none is placed on it in this unit.

Hebrews 12:28

basis: Verifier lists G1169 δειλός (in 4 vv) as shared with Hebrews 12:28 at score 0.25, but the printed Greek of that verse carries δέος (awe) rather than δειλός. The lexeme identification is contested at the source, so the candidate is recorded and flagged rather than used.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The one who rebukes the sea ancient/widely-held

The claim the unit makes is carried by two verbs and neither is metaphorical. ἐπετίμησεν (G2008) lays a charge against the winds and the sea as against subjects under authority, and ὑπακούουσιν (G5219, Strong's: to hear under, as a subordinate) reports that they answer as servants answer. Pulpit sends the reader to Psalm 104:7 for the identical charge laid on water by God. Poole states the inference in the psalmist's own terms, that it is he that rebuketh the waves of the sea when they roar and stilleth the ragings of the people, and concludes that surely this is more than a man. Gill will not leave it as an inference at all: never was such a thing heard of, that the winds and the sea should be rebuked by a mere creature and should obey, which can be said of no other than the most high God. Barnes agrees and puts it in the mouths of the witnesses, that they felt he must be God himself, for none but God could calm the heaving billows. Henry draws the pastoral end of it and anchors it in Isaiah 26:4. This is the reading of every commentator in the brief without exception, and it is the reading of the Greek: a verb of command and a verb of subordination, with the weather in the dative.

Psalm 104:7 · Mark 4:41 · Isaiah 26:4

Asleep as man, obeyed as God ancient/widely-held

The unit puts both natures in one boat in two consecutive verses and the commentators know it. Poole: it is expressly said that our Saviour was asleep, and hereby he showed himself to be truly man, subject to like infirmities with us, sin only excepted, citing Hebrews 4:15. Gill answers the standing Jewish objection directly, that Christ's body needing sleep shows it was a real human body he assumed, and that this is no contradiction to the truth of his divinity: he slept as man, though as God he is Israel's keeper, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. Poole says the same of him, that he who watcheth over Israel never slumbereth nor sleepeth; both are leaning on the language of Psalm 121:4 without citing it, and the reference is supplied here on that basis. Henry: his human nature, like to ours in every thing but sin, was wearied. Cambridge notes that this is the only place in the Gospels where the sleep of Jesus is named, which makes the juxtaposition deliberate rather than incidental. Ellicott reads Mark's "even as He was" as indicating extreme exhaustion from the fatigue of teaching. Matthew gives the imperfect ἐκάθευδεν, he kept sleeping, and then within two verses the present ὑπακούουσιν, they keep obeying. The exhaustion and the dominion are reported in the same grammatical register.

Hebrews 4:15 · Psalm 121:4

Raised, and then the sea is quiet novel

⚙ A reading offered to be tested, and marked novel in this form. Matthew uses ἐγείρω (G1453) twice in two verses and in opposite voices: the disciples ἤγειραν him, active, and he acts ἐγερθεὶς, aorist passive participle, having been raised. The parse is from the interlinear and is not in dispute; the English "woke Him" and "He got up" conceal it entirely. The Verifier confirms that this same lexeme links the verse to Matthew 28:6, but reports its frequency as 138 verses, far too common for the link to be called verbal, and it is not claimed as one here. What is claimed is smaller and internal: in this unit the sequence runs sleep, raising, word, stillness, and the men who caused the raising are the ones who then cannot name what they are looking at. None of the commentators in the brief make this observation; Gill comes nearest when he says that Christ, as the eternal God, was as able to save them sleeping as waking, which removes the raising from the causal chain altogether. Ellicott's ancient reading of the boat as the Church, which Pulpit traces to at least Tertullian, runs alongside this without depending on it.

Matthew 28:6 · Mark 4:38

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)

Text and translation. The base English is the Berean Standard Bible (CC0); the Greek, parses and Strong's numbers are from the Berean interlinear as supplied in the brief. Three renderings in this unit are worth the reader's caution, all in BSB. At 8:25 the words "save us" render a bare aorist imperative σῶσον with no separate object standing in the interlinear; the "us" is supplied. At 8:26 "perfectly calm" renders μεγάλη γαλήνη, literally a great calm, and the substitution of a degree word for the adjective breaks the deliberate echo of σεισμὸς μέγας in 8:24. At 8:26 "He got up" renders an aorist passive participle, ἐγερθεὶς. At 8:27 "What kind of man" supplies a noun the Greek does not have, as Gill observes.

Sources. Ten commentators are attached to this unit, but three contribute little or nothing. JFB's entry at every verse is a single cross-reference deferring the whole exposition to Mark 4:35-41, so no JFB voice is quoted here. Poole's entries at 8:23 through 8:26 are stubs reading "See Poole on Matthew 8:27"; his one substantive note sits at 8:27 and is quoted there. Geneva's entries at 8:24 through 8:27 reproduce the verse text only, so the one Geneva voice used is the genuine marginal gloss at 8:23. Cambridge has no entry at 8:25. Nine of the ten are quoted across the unit: Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge and Pulpit.

What is uncertain. The referent of ἄνθρωποι at 8:27 is genuinely unsettled and the brief's own commentators disagree four ways (Ellicott, Cambridge, Pulpit, Gill); no reading is adopted here. Whether the storm was ordinary providence or raised for the occasion is asserted by Gill and explicitly left open by Poole; the text says nothing, and this synthesis follows Poole. Barnes's vivid lake description is a quotation from W. M. Thomson's nineteenth-century travel writing, not from an ancient source. Ellicott's allegory of the boat as the Church is ancient (Pulpit traces it to Tertullian) but is applied to the passage rather than drawn from it, and is labelled as such. The Hebrews 12:28 thread candidate returned by the Verifier is flagged, not used: the fear word printed at that verse is δέος, not δειλός, and the shared-lexeme identification could not be confirmed. Cross-Testament links in this unit (Jonah, the Psalms) carry no shared Strong's numbers and cannot, since Greek and Hebrew lexemes are separately numbered; they are tiered structural on the pattern alone, with Pulpit as the recorded source for two of the three references.

✦ = 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)