Matthew 14:22-33
Jesus walking on the sea
14:22 Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.
14:23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone,
14:24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.
14:25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.
14:26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.
14:27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
14:28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
14:29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.
14:30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
14:31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
14:32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
14:33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
[22] Καὶ εὐθέως ἠνάγκασεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ ἐμβῆναι εἰς τὸ πλοῖον καὶ προάγειν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ πέραν, ἕως οὗ ἀπολύσῃ τοὺς ὄχλους.
[23] καὶ ἀπολύσας τοὺς ὄχλους ἀνέβη εἰς τὸ ὄρος κατ᾿ ἰδίαν προσεύξασθαι. ὀψίας δὲ γενομένης μόνος ἦν ἐκεῖ.
[24] τὸ δὲ πλοῖον ἤδη μέσον τῆς θαλάσσης ἦν, βασανιζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν κυμάτων· ἦν γὰρ ἐναντίος ὁ ἄνεμος.
[25] τετάρτῃ δὲ φυλακῇ τῆς νυκτὸς ἀπῆλθε πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς περιπατῶν ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης.
[26] καὶ ἰδόντες αὐτὸν οἱ μαθηταὶ ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν περιπατοῦντα ἐταράχθησαν λέγοντες ὅτι φάντασμά ἐστι, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου ἔκραξαν.
[27] εὐθέως δὲ ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς λέγων· θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ εἰμι· μὴ φοβεῖσθε.
[28] ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ Πέτρος εἶπε· Κύριε, εἰ σὺ εἶ, κέλευσόν με πρός σε ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα.
[29] ὁ δὲ εἶπεν, ἐλθέ. καὶ καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ πλοίου ὁ Πέτρος περιεπάτησεν ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα ἐλθεῖν πρὸς τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν.
[30] βλέπων δὲ τὸν ἄνεμον ἰσχυρὸν ἐφοβήθη, καὶ ἀρξάμενος καταποντίζεσθαι ἔκραξε λέγων· Κύριε, σῶσόν με.
[31] εὐθέως δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα ἐπελάβετο αὐτοῦ καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· ὀλιγόπιστε! εἰς τί ἐδίστασας;
[32] καὶ ἐμβάντων αὐτῶν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον ἐκόπασεν ὁ ἄνεμος·
[33] οἱ δὲ ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ ἐλθόντες προσεκύνησαν αὐτῷ λέγοντες· ἀληθῶς Θεοῦ υἱὸς εἶ.
Comments
Jesus for the first and only time compels his disciples to do something, apparently under urgent circumstances (v.22). Syntax suggests that Peter has no doubt that his teacher can control the waters (v. 28).
[22] ἠνάγκασεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ ἐμβῆναι, etc.: the construction reflects cl. Gk usage, i.e. ἀναγκάζω, ‘force, compel’ + acc. pers. + infinitive, ‘I force someone to do something’. On this unique case in which Jesus compels his disciples, see, e.g., EDNT s.v. ἀναγκάζω, 3. The Engl. tr. ‘made’ is euphemistic.
[23] κατ᾿ ἰδίαν: ‘in private’, a prep. phrase that serves as an adv.; attested in koine Gk (LSJ s.v. ἴδιος, VI.3). (Also noted in last week’s comments.)
[25] περιπατῶν ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης: περιπατέω/ ῶ here means ‘walk’ (its ordinary meaning.) A classicist is bound to remember the marked meaning, ‘to walk up and down’, as in a lecture hall, hence the Engl. ‘Peripatetic’, used of Aristotle’s school. (Teachers still pace while lecturing or thinking aloud in class!) The vb can also mean ‘to discourse on’ in Plato. Here Jesus walks ‘upon the sea’. Cf. the next verse, ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν περιπατοῦντα (where the prep. ἐπὶ is construed with an acc., with no change of meaning).
[27] θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ εἰμι: Jesus’ reassurance, lit., ‘Take heart, I am’ may strike an English-speaker as strange, but modern Greek preserves the same idiom. For example, when identifying oneself on the phone to a friend, one naturally says in Greek ‘εγώ είμαι’, ‘I am’, i.e. ‘It’s me.’
[28] εἰ σὺ εἶ, κέλευσόν με πρός σε ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ ὕδατα: Peter says, lit., ‘IF it is you, command me to come to you upon the waters.’ This is a special class of conditional sentence: εἰ + indicative of any tense (supposition) ➝ verb in any mood, esp. imperative (as here) or other moods (apodosis/ conclusion). In such a case, the conjunction ‘if’ means ‘if, as I suppose is true’. The speaker, that is, assumes that his supposition is real, whether it really is or not (for the cl. Gk evidence, see Schwyzer, Syntax und Syntaktische Stillistic, 1988, Gk tr., 2005, p. 859; fort he NT, Brooks & Winbery, Syntax of New Testament Greek, 1979, pp. 163 f.). Peter’s unquestioned supposition blurs into a causal clause, implying ‘since’.
[31] ἐδίστασας: 2nd pers. sg., aor., διστάζω, ‘doubt, hesitate’, absol. (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.). Lit., ‘I am of two (δίς) minds’. Peter wavered between courage and cowardice.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 