And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
Parallel translations
- WEB So Jesus said, “Do you also still not understand?
- BSB “Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked.
- NKJV So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?
- NASB Jesus said, “Are you also still lacking in understanding?
- NLT “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus gently rebukes the disciples for still not understanding. It matters because it shows that spiritual understanding requires growth and does not come automatically.
Overview
Jesus expresses mild surprise that those closest to him still miss the point. The rebuke is not harsh but instructive, calling them to deeper insight. Even committed followers can be slow to grasp how God's truth reshapes their inherited assumptions. The Lord's patience here models how he continues to teach his people toward fuller understanding.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 16:9Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
- Mark 9:32But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
- Mark 7:18And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;
- Matt 15:10And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
- Luke 9:45But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.
- Heb 5:12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
- Mark 6:52For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.
- Luke 24:45Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
- Matt 13:51Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
- Luke 18:34And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
- Isa 28:9–10Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
- Mark 8:17–18And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?
- Matt 16:11How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 15:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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