“And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?” — Matthew 9:4
The Authorized Version says knowing, but the received Greek literally says seeing. The main critical text agrees on that participle. At verse 8 there is a true printed difference: the Textus Receptus says the crowds marveled; the critical text says they feared.
Greek can use see for mental perception. Jesus sees what the scribes reason in their hearts. Translating the sense as “knowing” is faithful English, not evidence for a different Greek verb.
A rival form does use the ordinary participle for knowing. It is easier and more expected. The received “seeing” is the stronger image and has the broad support. Here the Textus Receptus and major critical editions agree against the smoother word.
This distinction guards against false comparison charts. “KJV: knowing; critical: seeing” confuses translation with text.
After the paralytic rises, the received crowd marvels and glorifies God. The critical crowd fears and glorifies God. Both reactions fit a healing joined to a claim of authority to forgive sins.
Critics favor “feared” on early evidence and because Matthew often joins fear with divine acts. “Marveled” may seem softened or harmonized to nearby miracle responses. Yet astonishment is also Matthew’s repeated word for the crowds, and the following praise gives the marvel a Godward direction.
Fear and wonder can coexist. The textual question is which one Matthew named, not whether the other emotion was absent from every heart. The wide transmission and narrative pattern support marveled.
The two verses teach a useful discipline. An English synonym may conceal no variant at all, while one Greek verb may mark a real choice. Jesus sees the invisible accusation; the crowd marvels at the visible command. Both acts point beyond ordinary human power.
The object of “seeing” is not a visible face alone but evil reasoning in the heart. Matthew’s metaphor therefore says more than ordinary observation. Jesus perceives the inner charge and answers it before it is spoken. The Authorized Version’s “knowing” gives that force to English readers without replacing the underlying participle.
At verse 8, fear may sound more reverent than marvel, but emotional intensity cannot decide a manuscript reading. Matthew uses wonder repeatedly after acts and teaching of Jesus. The crowd’s glorifying God keeps the response from becoming mere curiosity, even if it falls short of the faith Jesus later demands.
This passage is a warning against building textual claims from English alone. Before comparing translations, identify their Greek sources and their freedom to render an idiom. A faithful version may choose a contextual English verb where a gloss would mislead.
Sources and further reading
- Matthew 8:27; 9:1–8, 33; 15:31.
- Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, notes on Matthew 9:4 and 9:8.
- Frederick H. A. Scrivener, The New Testament in the Original Greek according to the Text Followed in the Authorised Version.