KJV: And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
YLT: And Jesus said to them, 'Through your want of faith; for verily I say to you, if ye may have faith as a grain of mustard, ye shall say to this mount, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you,
Darby: And he says to them, Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Be transported hence there, and it shall transport itself; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
ASV: And he saith unto them, Because of your little faith: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
| Ὁ | - |
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Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| λέγει | He said |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to say, to speak. |
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| αὐτοῖς | to them |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative Masculine 3rd Person Plural Root: αὐτός Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself. |
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| Διὰ | Because of |
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Parse: Preposition Root: διά Sense: through. |
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| ὀλιγοπιστίαν | little faith |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ὀλιγόπιστος Sense: of little faith, trusting too little. |
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| ὑμῶν | of you |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 2nd Person Plural Root: σύ Sense: you. |
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| ἀμὴν | Truly |
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Parse: Hebrew Word Root: ἀμήν Sense: firm. |
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| λέγω | I say |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to say, to speak. |
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| ὑμῖν | to you |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative 2nd Person Plural Root: σύ Sense: you. |
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| ἔχητε | you have |
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Parse: Verb, Present Subjunctive Active, 2nd Person Plural Root: ἔχω Sense: to have, i.e. to hold. |
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| πίστιν | faith |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: πίστις Sense: conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it. |
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| κόκκον | a seed |
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Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: κόκκος Sense: a grain. |
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| σινάπεως | of mustard |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Singular Root: σίναπι Sense: mustard, the name of a plant which in oriental countries grows from a very small seed and attains to the height of a tree, 0 feet (3 m) and more; hence a very small quantity of a thing is likened to a mustard seed, and also a thing which grows to a remarkable size. |
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| ἐρεῖτε | you will say |
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Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural Root: λέγω Sense: to utter, speak, say. |
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| τῷ | to the |
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Parse: Article, Dative Neuter Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| ὄρει | mountain |
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Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Singular Root: ὄρος Sense: a mountain. |
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| τούτῳ | to this |
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Parse: Demonstrative Pronoun, Dative Neuter Singular Root: οὗτος Sense: this. |
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| Μετάβα | Move |
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Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Singular Root: μεταβαίνω Sense: to pass over from one place to another, to remove, depart. |
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| ἔνθεν | from here |
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Parse: Adverb Root: ἐνθάδε Sense: here. |
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| ἐκεῖ | to there |
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Parse: Adverb Root: ἐκεῖ Sense: there, in or to that place. |
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| μεταβήσεται | it will move |
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Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Middle, 3rd Person Singular Root: μεταβαίνω Sense: to pass over from one place to another, to remove, depart. |
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| οὐδὲν | nothing |
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Parse: Adjective, Nominative Neuter Singular Root: οὐδείς Sense: no one, nothing. |
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| ἀδυνατήσει | will be impossible |
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Parse: Verb, Future Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἀδυνατέω Sense: impossible. |
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| ὑμῖν | for you |
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Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Dative 2nd Person Plural Root: σύ Sense: you. |
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Greek Commentary for Matthew 17:20
A good translation. It was less than “a grain of mustard seed” See note on Matthew 13:31 for this phrase. They had no miracle faith. Bruce holds “this mountain” to be the Mount of Transfiguration to which Jesus pointed. Probably so. But it is a parable. Our trouble is always with “this mountain” which confronts our path. Note the form μεταβα metaba (μετα meta and βητι bēthi). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 17:20
Single grain in contrast with the collective σπερμα sperma (Matthew 17:20).Took and sowed (λαβων εσπειρεν labōn espeiren). Vernacular phrasing like Hebrew and all conversational style. In Koiné. [source]
The Greek means “the matter of the fig tree,” as if a slight matter in comparison with this mountain Removing a mountain is a bigger task than blighting a fig tree. “The cursing of the fig-tree has always been regarded as of symbolic import, the tree being in Christ‘s mind an emblem of the Jewish people, with a great show of religion and no fruit of real godliness. This hypothesis is very credible” (Bruce). Plummer follows Zahn in referring it to the Holy City. Certainly “this mountain” is a parable and one already reported in Matthew 17:20 (cf. sycamine tree in Luke 17:6). Cf. Zechariah 14:4. [source]
Removing a mountain is a bigger task than blighting a fig tree. “The cursing of the fig-tree has always been regarded as of symbolic import, the tree being in Christ‘s mind an emblem of the Jewish people, with a great show of religion and no fruit of real godliness. This hypothesis is very credible” (Bruce). Plummer follows Zahn in referring it to the Holy City. Certainly “this mountain” is a parable and one already reported in Matthew 17:20 (cf. sycamine tree in Luke 17:6). Cf. Zechariah 14:4. [source]
Gulping or drinking down the camel. An oriental hyperbole like that in Matthew 19:24. See also Matthew 5:29, Matthew 5:30; Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21. Both insects and camels were ceremonially unclean (Leviticus 11:4, Leviticus 11:20, Leviticus 11:23, Leviticus 11:42). “He that kills a flea on the Sabbath is as guilty as if he killed a camel” (Jer. Shabb. 107). [source]
A different picture from Matthew‘s in the branches thereof But both use κατασκηνοιν kataskēnoin to tent or camp down, make nests in the branches in the shade or hop on the ground under the shade just like a covey of birds. In Matthew 8:20 the birds have nests The use of the mustard seed for smallness seems to have been proverbial and Jesus employs it elsewhere (Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:6). [source]
But both use κατασκηνοιν kataskēnoin to tent or camp down, make nests in the branches in the shade or hop on the ground under the shade just like a covey of birds. In Matthew 8:20 the birds have nests The use of the mustard seed for smallness seems to have been proverbial and Jesus employs it elsewhere (Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:6). [source]
The addition of “and of fasting” does not appear in the two best Greek manuscripts (Aleph and B). It is clearly a late addition to help explain the failure. But it is needless and also untrue. Prayer is what the nine had failed to use. They were powerless because they were prayerless. Their self-complacency spelled defeat. Matthew 17:20 has “because of your little faith” That is true also. They had too much faith in themselves, too little in Christ. “They had trusted to the semi-magical power with which they thought themselves invested” (Swete). “Spirits of such malignity were quick to discern the lack of moral power and would yield to no other” (ibid.). [source]
Imperfect active with αν an and so a conclusion (apodosis) of the second class, determined as unfulfilled, a mixed condition therefore.Sycamine tree (συκαμινωι sukaminōi). At the present time both the black mulberry (sycamine) and the white mulberry (sycamore) exist in Palestine. Luke alone in the N.T. uses either word, the sycamine here, the sycamore in Luke 19:4. The distinction is not observed in the lxx, but it is observed in the late Greek medical writers for both trees have medicinal properties. Hence it may be assumed that Luke, as a physician, makes the distinction. Both trees differ from the English sycamore. In Matthew 17:20 we have “mountain” in place of “sycamine tree.”Be thou rooted up First aorist passive imperative as is πυτευτητι phuteuthēti have obeyed First aorist active indicative with αν an apodosis of a second-class condition (note aorist tense here, imperfect ελεγετε elegete). [source]
At the present time both the black mulberry (sycamine) and the white mulberry (sycamore) exist in Palestine. Luke alone in the N.T. uses either word, the sycamine here, the sycamore in Luke 19:4. The distinction is not observed in the lxx, but it is observed in the late Greek medical writers for both trees have medicinal properties. Hence it may be assumed that Luke, as a physician, makes the distinction. Both trees differ from the English sycamore. In Matthew 17:20 we have “mountain” in place of “sycamine tree.” [source]
This form of expression occurs frequently in the New Testament, to denote the possession or experience of virtues, sensations, desires, emotions, intellectual or spiritual faculties, faults, or defects. It is stronger than the verb which expresses any one of these. For instance, to have faith is stronger than to believe: to have life, than the act of living. It expresses a distinct, personal realization of the virtue or fault or sentiment in question. Hence, to have sorrow is more than to be sorrowful. In Matthew 17:20, Christ does not say if ye believe, but if ye have faith; if faith, in ever so small a degree, is possessed by you as a conscious, living principle and motive. Compare have love (John 13:35; 1 John 4:16); have peace (John 16:33); have trust (2 Corinthians 3:4); have boldness (Hebrews 10:19; 1 John 2:28). [source]
Not faith of surrender, saving faith, but wonder-working faith like that in 1 Corinthians 13:2 (Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21). Note here εν τωι αυτωι πνευματι en tōi autōi pneumati (in the same Spirit) in contrast with δια dia and κατα kata in 1 Corinthians 12:8. [source]