Matthew 20:26

Matthew 20:26 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
• New International Version (NIV)Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
• English Standard Version (ESV)It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
• New King James Version (NKJV)Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

Context of Matthew 20:26

24When the other ten disciples heard about this, they were angry with the two brothers. 25Then Jesus told all the 12 disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘You know the things that rulers of other countries do. They show that they have great power over their people. The leaders of those countries use great authority over their people. But you should not be like that. The person who wants to be great among you must become your servant. 27The person who wants to be the most important person among you must work hard for everyone else. 28Even the Son of Man himself came to earth to be a servant to other people. He did not come here to have servants who must work for him. No, he came to die so that many people can be free.’

Matthew 20:26 word by word

οὐχ οὕτως ἔσται ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ὃς ἐὰν θέλῃ ἐν ὑμῖν μέγας γενέσθαι, ἔσται ὑμῶν διάκονος·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Butδέde · thenG1161
• it shallεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• notοὐou · noG3756
• soοὕτωςhoutō · thus(-ly)G3779
• amongἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• youσύsu · youG4771
• butἀλλάalla · butG235
• whosoeverὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
• ·ἐάνean · ifG1437
• will beθέλωthelō ethelō · to will/desireG2309
• greatμέγαςmegas · greatG3173
• let himγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
• ministerδιάκονοςdiakonos · servantG1249

Cross-references for Matthew 20:26

• Matthew 23:8You all belong to God's family. You have only one Teacher. So nobody should call another person, “Teacher”.
• Mark 9:35Jesus sat down. He told the 12 apostles to come to him. Then he said to them, ‘If you want to be the leader, make yourself less important than everyone else. You must become the servant of everyone.’
• Mark 10:43But you should not be like that. Instead, the person who wants to be great among you must become like your servant.
• Luke 14:7Jesus watched how people chose the best places to sit at the meal. So he told this story to those who were sitting there:
• Luke 18:14Jesus then said, ‘Let me tell you about these men when they went home. The man that took taxes from people was now right with God. But the Pharisee was still guilty. Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring all of them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
• John 18:36Jesus said, ‘My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it did, my disciples would have fought for me. They would have fought so that the Jewish leaders could not take hold of me. No, my kingdom belongs to another place.’
• 2 Corinthians 1:24We are not trying to tell you what you must believe, like masters would do. You are already strong in your spirits because you trust God. So we want to help you to be really happy.
• 2 Corinthians 10:4It is like we are fighting in a war, but we do not use human weapons. Instead we use God's weapons. Those weapons are powerful enough to destroy the enemy's strong places. We use those weapons to destroy people's wrong ideas.
• 1 Peter 5:3God has given you a group of believers to take care of them. Do not try to rule over them with power. Instead, show them how to live in a good way, so that they can copy you.
• 3 John 1:9I have already written something to the group of believers. But Diotrephes refuses to accept our authority. He really wants to be the only leader among them.
• Revelation 13:11Then I saw a second wild animal. This one was coming up out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb's horns. But it spoke like a dragon.
• Revelation 17:6I saw that the woman was like a drunk. She was like someone who had drunk the blood of God's people. She had killed them because they had told other people about Jesus. When I saw her, I was very surprised.
• Matthew 25:44Then these other people will say, “Master, when did we see you and you were hungry, or you were thirsty? When did we see you alone or without clothes? When did we see you and you were ill, or in prison? When did you need our help and we did not help you?”
• Matthew 27:55There were also many women there. They were standing a long way away and they were watching these events. They had come with Jesus from Galilee to help him.
• Ezekiel 24:13The dirt on the pot shows the disgusting things that you do. I tried to remove those wicked things to make you clean, but you would not let me do that. So I will punish you until I am no longer angry with you. You will not be clean until that happens.
• Acts 13:5They arrived at a town called Salamis. There they went into the Jewish meeting places and they told the people God's message about Jesus. John Mark went with Barnabas and Saul to help them with their work.

Commentaries on Matthew 20:26

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 26It shall not be so among you - Every kind of lordship and spiritual domination over the Church of Christ, like that exercised by the Church of Rome, is destructive and anti-christian. Your minister - Or, deacon, . I know no other word which could at once convey the meaning of the original, and make a proper distinction between it and , or servant, in Matthew 20:27. The office of a deacon, in the primitive Church, was to serve in the agapae, or love…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20-28Verses 20-28 See also Mark 10:35-45. Matthew 20:20 Then came to him give mother of Zebedee‘s children … - This was probably Salome, Mark 15:40; Mark 16:1. With her sons - The names of these sons were James and John, Mark 10:35 Mark says they came and made the request. That is, they made it, as appears from Matthew, through the medium of their mother; they requested her to ask it for them. It is not improbable that she was an ambitious woman, and was…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-28Verses 20-28 The sons of Zebedee abused what Christ said to comfort the disciples. Some cannot have comforts but they turn them to a wrong purpose. Pride is a sin that most easily besets us; it is sinful ambition to outdo others in pomp and grandeur. To put down the vanity and ambition of their request, Christ leads them to the thoughts of their sufferings. It is a bitter cup that is to be drunk of; a cup of trembling, but not the cup of the wicked. It is…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 25-28Rulers who do not know God often desire power and control. But those who follow the Son of Man should not act this way (Matthew 18:1–5; 19:13–15; 23:1–12).Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 20:26

• Commandments
• Fellowship
• Humility
• Jesus, the Christ
• Man
• Minister, Christian
• Pride

In the dictionaries

• Agree
• Choose
• Condemn
• Drink
• Idle
• Prepare
• Ransom
• Wrong
• Authority in Religion
• Bishop

Commentaries on Matthew 20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings