The Meaning of Matthew 4:9 Explained

Matthew 4:9

KJV: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

YLT: and saith to him, 'All these to thee I will give, if falling down thou mayest bow to me.'

Darby: and says to him, All these things will I give thee if, falling down, thou wilt do me homage.

ASV: and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

What is the context of Matthew 4:9?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  saith  unto him,  All  these things  will I give  thee,  if  thou wilt fall down  and worship  me. 

What does Matthew 4:9 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 4:1-11 - Tempted By The Devil
Then marks the close connection between the heavenly voice of the baptism and the fiery ordeal of the forty days. Notice that temptation is not in itself sin; only when the evil suggestions of the tempter are harbored do they become sin. Notice also that all around us is a dark region of evil, out of which temptations arise. Whenever you have received a conspicuous revelation, you may expect a time of testing. This is God's way of rooting the trees in the soil, and burning in the fair colors which He paints on the vessels that are being made meet for His use.
The first temptation was that our Lord should use for His physical needs the power which had been entrusted to Him, as Son of man, for the service of men. The second was an effort to incite Him to act presumptuously, at the dictate of self-will and apart from the clear guidance of God's Spirit. The third was to attain the throne by a wrong method. It was only by the cross that He could win power to rule and save. See Hebrews 4:15-16; Hebrews 5:8-9. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 4

1  Jesus, fasting forty days,
3  is tempted by the devil and ministered unto by angels
12  He dwells in Capernaum;
17  begins to preach;
18  calls Peter and Andrew,
21  James and John;
23  teaches and heals all the diseased

Greek Commentary for Matthew 4:9

All these things will I give thee [ταυτα σοι παντα δωσω]
The devil claims the rule of the world, not merely of Palestine or of the Roman Empire. “The kingdoms of the cosmos” (Matthew 4:8) were under his sway. This word for world brings out the orderly arrangement of the universe while η οικουμενη — hē oikoumenē presents the inhabited earth. Jesus does not deny the grip of the devil on the world of men, but the condition (εαν — ean and aorist subjunctive, second class undetermined with likelihood of determination), was spurned by Jesus. As Matthew has it Jesus is plainly to “fall down and worship me” (πεσων προκυνησηις μοι — pesōn prokunēsēis moi), while Luke (Luke 4:7) puts it, “worship before me” (ενωπιον εμου — enōpion emou), a less offensive demand, but one that really involved worship of the devil. The ambition of Jesus is thus appealed to at the price of recognition of the devil‘s primacy in the world. It was compromise that involved surrender of the Son of God to the world ruler of this darkness. “The temptation was threefold: to gain a temporal, not a spiritual, dominion; to gain it at once; and to gain it by an act of homage to the ruler of this world, which would make the self-constituted Messiah the vice-regent of the devil and not of God” (McNeile). [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 4:9

Luke 8:28 Fell down [προσέπεσεν]
Mark has προσεκύνησεν , which often implies religious or superstitious feeling, as Matthew 4:9, Matthew 4:10. This is the prostration of abject terror. [source]
Luke 4:6 All this authority [την εχουσιαν ταυτην απασαν]
Matthew 4:9 has “all these things.” Luke‘s report is more specific. [source]
Luke 4:7 Wilt worship before me [προσκυνησηις ενωπιον εμου]
Matthew 4:9 has it more bluntly “worship me.” That is what it really comes to, though in Luke the matter is more delicately put. It is a condition of the third class Luke has it “thou therefore if” (συ ουν εαν — su oun ean), in a very emphatic and subtle way. It is the ingressive aorist (προσκυνησηις — proskunēsēis), just bow the knee once up here in my presence. The temptation was for Jesus to admit Satan‘s authority by this act of prostration (fall down and worship), a recognition of authority rather than of personal merit. [source]
Revelation 13:2 As the feet of a bear [αρκτος]
Old word, also spelled ως στομα λεοντος — arktos here only in N.T. From Daniel 7:4. No word in the Greek for “feet” before “bear.”As the mouth of a lion (εδωκεν αυτωι ο δρακων — hōs stoma leontos). From Daniel 7:4. This beast combines features of the first three beasts in Daniel 7:2. The strength and brutality of the Babylonian, Median, and Persian empires appeared in the Roman Empire. The catlike vigilance of the leopard, the slow and crushing power of the bear, and the roar of the lion were all familiar features to the shepherds in Palestine (Swete).The dragon gave him First aorist active indicative of αυτωι — didōmi (to give) and dative case autōi (the beast). The dragon works through this beast. The beast is simply Satan‘s agent. Satan claimed this power to Christ (Matthew 4:9; Luke 4:6) and Christ called Satan the prince of this world (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11). So the war is on. [source]
Revelation 13:2 The dragon gave him [διδωμι]
First aorist active indicative of αυτωι — didōmi (to give) and dative case autōi (the beast). The dragon works through this beast. The beast is simply Satan‘s agent. Satan claimed this power to Christ (Matthew 4:9; Luke 4:6) and Christ called Satan the prince of this world (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11). So the war is on. [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 4:9 mean?

and he says to Him These things to You all will I give if falling down You will worship me
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ταῦτά σοι πάντα δώσω ἐὰν πεσὼν προσκυνήσῃς μοι

εἶπεν  he  says 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: λέγω  
Sense: to speak, say.
αὐτῷ  to  Him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
Ταῦτά  These  things 
Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: οὗτος  
Sense: this.
σοι  to  You 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative 2nd Person Singular
Root: σύ  
Sense: you.
δώσω  will  I  give 
Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular
Root: διδῶ 
Sense: to give.
πεσὼν  falling  down 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: πίπτω 
Sense: to descend from a higher place to a lower.
προσκυνήσῃς  You  will  worship 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Subjunctive Active, 2nd Person Singular
Root: προσκυνέω  
Sense: to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence.
μοι  me 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative 1st Person Singular
Root: ἐγώ  
Sense: I, me, my.