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Matthew 9:9

Follow me.

Spoken to Matthew as he worked at a tax collector's

Spoken to:: an individual
KJV issues:: 0

KJV

Matthew 9:9 Follow me.

NIV

Matthew 9:9 Follow me.

What His Listeners Heard

Follow me.

Greek

Matthew 9:9 Ἀκολούθει μοι

Greek Word Order

Ἀκολούθει μοι
Follow me

We follow Jesus for his purposes not our own.

Lost in Translation

The term "follow" means "to follow," or "go with," in a physical sense, but it is also a metaphor meaning "to be guided by" or "to follow the meaning of." The term also specifically means "to follow the thread" of a discourse.

The "me" is in the form of an indirect object, which the verb normally takes when the one being followed is a person.

Vocabulary (Greek word by word)

Ἀκολούθει (2nd sg pres imperat act) "Follow" is from akoloutheo, which means "to follow," and "to go with." It also means "to be guided by" and means following a leader as a disciple.

μοι (pron 1st masc dat) "Me" is from moi, which means "I," "me," and "my."

KJV — word by word

Follow - The term "follow" means "to follow," or "go with," in a physical sense, but it is also a metaphor meaning "to be guided by" or "to follow the meaning of." The term also specifically means "to follow the thread" of a discourse.

me. - The "me" is in the form of an indirect object, so it is not the object of "follow," which would be in a different form. The sense is that the person following does not act directly on the person they follow, but rather indirectly. The form has a number of uses in Greek. Most commonly it is an indirect object ("follow this road [the object] to Rome [the indirect object].