Delivered Over and Betrayed

I was recently preaching through the last section of Matthew’s gospel and made an important discovery. I discovered that Matthew uses the same word fifteen times in 26:2–27:26. The word is παραδίδωμι and the Legacy Standard Bible translates it as “deliver” or “betray.”

Let me walk you through how I made this discovery and show you how discoveries like this can aid your understanding of the Scriptures.

Strong’s Bibles

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Step One

Once you have purchased a Strong’s tagged Bible, select the resource in your library and it will open in the main window. In the Verse Chooser, navigate to Matthew 26 and it should look like this:

The blue and maroon words are all the words with Strong’s numbers tagging. Once I tap the word “delivered” in verse 2, a pop-up window will open. This window shows the Greek word, Strong’s number, related Greek words, a brief definition, and the different ways translators choose to translate it. All with a simple click or tap.

Step Two

What we want to find out though is how Matthew uses this word. So, in the bottom of the pop-up window, you’ll see the option to Search for g3860 or Lookup παραδίδωμι (learn more here). Tap on Search for g3860 and you’ll see the search results arranged by book.

Since we want to see the search results for Matthew’s gospel, just scroll down to Matthew 26:2 and you should see a list of verses like this:

Results and Implications

Beginning with Jesus’ prediction in Matthew 26:2, these verses show how he was going to be delivered over for crucifixion. He would be betrayed by one of his own disciples, given into the hands of the Jewish leaders, delivered over to Pilate, who delivered him up to be crucified.

While we can trace this theme through Matthew’s use of the word “betray,” we wouldn’t see how it connects to Jesus’ prediction without access to the original Greek. Strong’s tagged Bibles, like the Legacy Standard Bible with Strong’s, enables us to discover themes like these without being proficient in the original languages and obscured by Bible translations.

Maximize Your Study with the LSB with Strong’s

The Legacy Standard Bible is a new translation by the Lockman Foundation, 316 Publishing, and scholars from The Master’s University and Seminary. Check out this blog post for a look inside the translation and visit our store to purchase the LSB with Strong’s.