Matthew 4:17

Matthew 4:17 is the seventeenth verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In the previous verses Jesus returned to Galilee after hearing of the arrest of John the Baptist and then left Nazareth for Capernaum. This verse reports that once in Capernaum, Jesus began to preach.

Matthew 4:17
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"Christ Preaching at the Sea of Galilee". Painting by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625)
Book	Gospel of Matthew
Christian Bible part	New Testament

Content

The original Koine Greek, according to Westcott and Hort, reads:

απο τοτε ηρξατο ο ιησους κηρυσσειν και λεγειν

μετανοειτε ηγγικεν γαρ η βασιλεια των ουρανω

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

From that time Jesus began to

preach, and to say, Repent: for

the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The New International Version translates the passage as:

From that time on Jesus began

to preach, "Repent, for the

kingdom of heaven is near."

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 4:17.

Analysis

This verse is often seen as the beginning of the main section of Matthew's gospel: Jesus' ministry. The author of Matthew uses the phrase "from that time" three times: here, Matthew 16:21, and Matthew 26:16. Each of the verses is often seen as a turning point in the narrative.

Jesus here uses a line identical to that ascribed to John the Baptist in Matthew 3:2, but here Jesus's call to repentance is calling men to reassess all personal and social values in the approach of the divine kingdom of his ministry.[1] This reassessment reappears in the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12.[1] Therefore, 'the message of the kingdom has not changed, but the messenger has'; the difference is crucial.[2] Thomas Long gives an representation that the message by John the Baptist is like a person pointing to the cloud on the horizon and saying that the rain is near, whereas the message by Jesus is saying that the kingdom begins to happen and through him.[2]

References

1. Bruce 2014, Matthew 4:12-25.
2. Long 1997, p. 42.

Sources

• Bruce, F.F. (2014). Matthew. Volume 1. BookBaby. ISBN 9781909680296.
• Long, Thomas G. (1997). Matthew. Westminster Bible companion. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664252571.

Further reading

• Albright, W.F. and C.S. Mann. "Matthew." The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
• France, R.T. The Gospel According to Matthew: an Introduction and Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
• Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975