Matthew 21:3

And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
if	ἐάν ean	G1437	a conditional particle · conditional particle
any	τις tis	G5100	some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — nominative singular masculine
say	εἴπῃ eipē	G2036	to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
ought	τι, ti	G5100	some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — accusative singular neuter
unto you	ὑμῖν hymîn	G5213	to (with or by) you
ye shall say	ἐρέω eréō	G2046	an alternate for G2036 (ἔπω) in certain tenses
The Lord	κύριος kurios	G2962	supreme in authority · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
hath	ἔχει, echei	G2192	to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
need	χρείαν chreian	G5532	employment · noun — accusative singular feminine
of them	αὐτῶν autōn	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
and	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
straightway	εὐθὺς euthus	G2112	directly · adverb
he will send	ἀποστελεῖ apostelei	G649	set apart · verb — future active indicative, 3rd person singular
them	αὐτούς.¶ autous	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative plural masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Acts 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
2 Corinthians 8:1-2 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
Psalms 50:10-11 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
John 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty mig…
Ezra 1:5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to…
Ezra 7:27 Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is…
Psalms 24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Matthew 21:3

And if any man say ought unto you,.... As, what business have you with the ass and colt? why do you loose them? as certain persons, the owners of them did, as Mark and Luke relate; ye shall say, the Lord hath need of them: he that is our Lord, and your Lord, and the Lord of these creatures, and of all things else, wants them for his present service; and straightway he will send them: which is either a continuation of what the disciples should say to any that should ask them the reason of their loosing the ass and colt, in order to make them easy: that the Lord who had need of them, as soon as he had done with them, would send them back to their proper owners, safe and well: or they are spo…

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John Calvin on Matthew 21:1-9

Matthew 21:1-9 Matthew 21:1-9 Mark 11:1-10 Luke 19:29-38 1. And when they approached Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, to the mountain of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, [698] 2. Saying to them, Go into the village which is opposite to you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them to me. 3. And if any man shall say anything to you, say, The Lord hath need of them; and immediately he will send them. [699] 4. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5. Say to the daughter of Zion, Lo, thy King cometh to thee, meek, and sitting on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of one that is und…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 21:3

Jesus was revealing himself as the Lord who, as king of Israel, ascends to Mount Zion on a donkey (21:5; see Zech 9:9).

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

But as it was then said to the Apostles, If any man say ought to you, say ye, The Lord hath need of them; so now it is commanded to the preachers, that though any opposition be made to them, they should not slack to preach.
— Remigius of Rheims ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

He said not to His disciples, Say, Thy Lord, or Your Lord, hath need of them; that they may understand, that He is Lord alone, not of the beasts only, but of all men; for even sinners are by the law of nature His, though by their own will they are the Devil's. it is to be understood, that after He had entered into Jerusalem, the beast was returned by Christ to its owner.
— Pseudo-Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Two disciples are sent to the village to loosen the ass tied up with its colt and to bring them to him. And should someone ask them why they are doing that, they are to respond that the Lord needs the animals, which must be released to him without delay.From the previous sermons we remember that the two sons of Zebedee symbolize the double vocation of Israel. Therefore, now it is fitting to interpret the two disciples sent to release the ass and the colt as the subsequent double vocation of the Gentiles. It applies first of all to the Samaritans, who abandoned the law after their dissent and lived in a state of dependence and servitude. Yet it also applies to the rebellious and ferocious Gentiles. Therefore the two disciples are sent to loosen those who were bound and arrested by the bonds of error and ignorance. They are sent from Jerusalem, since these vocations originated in that city. On the other hand, it was on the way to Jerusalem that the Zebedees' mother prayed to the Lord, since it is by the two vocations of the apostles and John, which proceeded from the law, that Israel is saved. Similarly Samaria (which believed through Philip) and Cornelius (who was brought to Christ by Peter)6 are the first fruits of the Gentiles. The fact that the disciples are instructed to respond, should someone ask them, that the two animals are needed for the Lord and must be released immediately means that the two preachers of the faith according to the gospel have to give themselves to the Lord as his own nation. Therefore the prophecy that announced the Lord's entering Jerusalem on the ass and colt is fulfilled.
— Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew 21.3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Prophecies Respecting Christ · Fulfilled — Fulfilled

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).