Matthew Chapter 16 verse 20 Holy Bible

ASV Matthew 16:20

Then charged he the disciples that they should tell no man that he was the Christ.
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BBE Matthew 16:20

Then he gave orders to the disciples to give no man word that he was the Christ.
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DARBY Matthew 16:20

Then he enjoined on his disciples that they should say to no man that he was the Christ.
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KJV Matthew 16:20

Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
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WBT Matthew 16:20


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WEB Matthew 16:20

Then he charged the disciples that they should tell no one that he is Jesus the Christ.
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YLT Matthew 16:20

Then did he charge his disciples that they may say to no one that he is Jesus the Christ.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 20. - Then charged he his disciples. Immediately after Peter's confession and Jesus' promise. St. Matthew's word "charged" (διεστείλατο) becomes more emphatic in the other synoptists (ἐπετίμησεν), implying a command with a rebuke attached to it on its infringement; Vulgate, comminatus est (Mark 8:30). That they should tell no man that he (au)to\) was [Jesus] the Christ. The received text inserts the word "Jesus," but very many good manuscripts omit it; and it seems to have been received by inadvertence, the point being that he was Messiah. The injunction to tell no man (with which comp. Matthew 8:4) was necessary at this time for many reasons. The time was not ripe for the declaration which might have led to tumult and disorder among an excited populace. Any ambitious ideas which the apostles might have formed from what had just passed were here nipped in the bud. They were not sufficiently familiar with the true notion of the Messiah, especially a suffering Messiah, to be competent to preach him to others. This we see by Peter's inconsiderate remonstrance in ver. 22. Till they received the Holy Ghost after Christ's ascension, they could not rightly and profitably preach of Christ's nature, office, and kingdom. Jesus may have looked forward to their desertion of him in his hour of trial, and prevented them from proclaiming his real character, which, in the face of such desertion, would have proved a stumbling block to the faith of believers. Some of these reasons we may reverently believe were those which led Christ to lay this severe restriction on the enthusiasm of his followers (see on Matthew 17:9).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(20) Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man.--We may venture to analyse what we may reverently call the motives of this reticence. Had the disciples gone about, not only as proclaiming the kingdom and as preachers of repentance, but sounding the watchword that the Christ had come, it might not have been difficult for them to gather round Him the homage of excited crowds. It was not such homage, however, that He sought, but that which had its root in a deeper faith. It tended to present a false aspect of His kingdom to the minds of men; it tended also to prevent the consummation to which He was now directing the thoughts of His disciples as the necessary condition of His entering on the glory of His kingdom. The zeal of the multitude to make him a king after their own fashion (John 6:15) was what He deprecated and shunned.