Matthew 9:12

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
But	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
when	ἀκούσας akousas	G191	to hear (in various senses) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
Jesus	Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua)
heard	ἀκούω akoúō	G191	to hear (in various senses)
said	εἶπεν eipen	G2036	to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
them	αὐτός autós	G846	the reflexive pronoun self
They that be whole	ἰσχύοντες ischuontes	G2480	to have (or exercise) force (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
need	χρείαν chreian	G5532	employment · noun — accusative singular feminine
not	οὐ ou	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
a physician	ἰατροῦ iatrou	G2395	a physician · noun — genitive singular masculine
but	ἀλλ᾽ all᾽	G235	properly · conjunction
they that are sick	κακῶς kakōs	G2560	badly (physically or morally) · adverb

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

Luke 5:31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
Revelation 3:17-18 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, a…
Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the r…
Luke 9:11 And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had n…
Psalms 147:3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.
Hosea 14:4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 9:9-13

In these verses we have an account of the grace and favour of Christ to poor publicans, particularly to Matthew. What he did to the bodies of people was to make way for a kind design upon their souls. Now observe here, I. The call of Matthew, the penman of this gospel. Mark and Luke call him Levi; it was ordinary for the same person to have two names: perhaps Matthew was the name he was most known by as a publican, and, therefore, in his humility, he called himself by that name, rather than by the more honourable name of Levi. Some think Christ gave him the name of Matthew when he called him to be an apostle; as Simon, he surnamed Peter. Matthew signifies, the gift of God, Ministers are God'…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 9:12

But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them--to the Pharisees and scribes; addressing Himself to them, though they had shrunk from addressing Him. They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick--that is, "Ye deem yourselves whole; My mission, therefore, is not to you: The physician's business is with the sick; therefore eat I with publicans and sinners." Oh, what myriads of broken hearts, of sin-sick souls, have been bound up by this matchless saying!

John Gill on Matthew 9:12

But when Jesus heard that,.... The charge the Pharisees brought against him, and the insinuations they had made of him to his disciples; which he either overheard himself, or his disciples related to him, he said unto them; the Pharisees, with an audible voice, not only to confute and convince them, but chiefly to establish his disciples, they were endeavouring to draw away from him: they that be whole need not a physician; by which he would signify that he was a "physician": and so he is in a spiritual sense, and that a very skilful one: he knows the nature of all the diseases of the soul, without being told them by the patient; what are the true causes of them; what is proper to apply; w…

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John Calvin

The Church Fathers

The Lord had come, of course, to save that which "had perished; " "a Physician." necessary to "the sick" "more than to the whole." This fact He was in the habit both of typifying in parables and preaching in direct statements.
— Tertullian, On Modesty

Luke adds to repentance, which explains the sense; that none should suppose that sinners are loved by Christ because they are sinners; and this comparison of the sick shows what God means by calling sinners, as a physician does the sick to be saved from their iniquity as from a sickness: which is done by penitence.
— Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

He calls Himself a physician, because by a wonderful kind of medicine He was wounded for our iniquities that He might heal the wound of our sin. By the whole, He means those who seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the true righteousness of God. By the sick, He means those who, tied by the consciousness of their frailty, and seeing that they are not justified by the Law, submit themselves in penitence to the grace of God.
— Rabanus Maurus ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

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

Custom — A tax imposed by the Romans. The tax-gatherers were termed publicans (q.v.), who had their stations at the gates of cities, and in the public highways, and at the place set apart for that purpose,…
Capernaum · Miracles of Jesus performed at — Miracles of Jesus performed at
Disease · .Physicians employed for — .Physicians employed for
Diseases · Physicians undertook the cure of — Physicians undertook the cure of
Ecclesiasticism · Jewish, rebuked by Jesus — Jewish, rebuked by Jesus
Miracles Of Christ, The · Centurion’s servant healed — Centurion’s servant healed
Pharisees · As — As
Physician · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Self-Righteousness · 2:4; — 2:4;
Sickness · Illustrative of sin — Illustrative of sin

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).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 9:9-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 9:12

John Gill on Matthew 9:12

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 9:9-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 9:12

John Gill on Matthew 9:12

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 9:10