Matthew 5:25

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Reach agreement quickly with your accuser while on the way to court, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἴσθι εὐνοῶν τῷ ἀντιδίκῳ σου ταχύ, ἕως ὅτου εἶ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ μετʼ αὐτοῦ· μήποτέ σε παραδῷ ὁ ἀντίδικος τῷ κριτῇ, καὶ ὁ κριτὴς σε παραδῷ τῷ ὑπηρέτῃ, καὶ εἰς φυλακὴν βληθήσῃ.

Transliteration

Isthi eunoōn to-the antidikō of-you tachy, while hotou ei in the hodō with him; lest you paradō the antidikos to-the kritē, and the kritēs you paradō to-the hypēretē, and into phylakēn blēthēsē.

Grammar Details

• *Isthi*: present active imperative, 2nd person singular - be!
• *eunoōn*: present active participle, nominative masculine singular - well-disposed/agreeing
• *antidikō*: dative masculine singular - to adversary/opponent
• *tachy*: adverb - quickly/speedily
• *hotou*: relative pronoun - while
• *ei*: present active indicative, 2nd person singular - you are
• *hodō*: dative feminine singular - in way/road
• *paradō*: aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular - might hand over
• *antidikos*: nominative masculine singular - adversary/opponent
• *kritē*: dative masculine singular - to judge
• *kritēs*: nominative masculine singular - judge
• *hypēretē*: dative masculine singular - to officer/servant
• *phylakēn*: accusative feminine singular - prison
• *blēthēsē*: future passive indicative, 2nd person singular - you will be thrown

Word Meanings

• *Isthi*: be/exist
• *eunoōn*: well-disposed/agreeing/favorable
• *antidikō*: adversary/opponent/legal opponent
• *tachy*: quickly/speedily/soon
• *hodō*: way/road/journey
• *paradō*: hand over/deliver/betray
• *antidikos*: adversary/opponent/legal opponent
• *kritē*: judge/magistrate
• *hypēretē*: officer/servant/attendant
• *phylakēn*: prison/guard post/watch
• *blēthēsē*: will be thrown/cast/put

Referenced Verses

• Luke 12:58-59 : 58 As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last cent!”
• Job 22:21 : 21 “Reconcile yourself with God, and be at peace with him; in this way your prosperity will be good.
• Prov 25:8 : 8 Do not go out hastily to litigation, or what will you do afterward when your neighbor puts you to shame?
• Isa 55:6-7 : 6 Seek the LORD while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! 7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the LORD, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
• Ps 32:6 : 6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers should pray to you while there is a window of opportunity. Certainly when the surging water rises, it will not reach them.
• Prov 6:1-5 : 1 Admonitions and Warnings against Dangerous and Destructive Acts My child, if you have made a pledge for your neighbor, if you have become a guarantor for a stranger, 2 if you have been ensnared by the words you have uttered, and have been caught by the words you have spoken, 3 then, my child, do this in order to deliver yourself, because you have fallen into your neighbor’s power: go, humble yourself, and appeal firmly to your neighbor. 4 Permit no sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. 5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, and like a bird from the trap of the fowler.
• 1 Kgs 22:26-27 : 26 Then the king of Israel said,“Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the city official and Joash the king’s son. 27 Say,‘This is what the king says,“Put this man in prison. Give him only a little bread and water until I safely return.”’”
• Luke 13:24-25 : 24 “Exert every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him,‘Lord, let us in!’ But he will answer you,‘I don’t know where you come from.’
• Luke 14:31-32 : 31 Or what king, going out to confront another king in battle, will not sit down first and determine whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot succeed, he will send a representative while the other is still a long way off and ask for terms of peace.
• Heb 3:7 : 7 Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!
• Heb 12:17 : 17 For you know that later when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, although he sought the blessing with tears.
• Heb 3:13 : 13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called“Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception.
• 2 Cor 6:2 : 2 For he says,“I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!
• 1 Sam 25:17-35 : 17 Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household. He is such a wicked person that no one tells him anything!” 18 So Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred lumps of pressed figs. She loaded them on donkeys 19 and said to her servants,“Go on ahead of me. I will come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal. 20 Riding on her donkey, she went down under cover of the mountain. David and his men were coming down to meet her, and she encountered them. 21 Now David had been thinking,“In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil. 22 God will severely punish David, if I leave alive until morning even one male from all those who belong to him!” 23 When Abigail saw David, she got down quickly from the donkey, threw herself facedown before David, and bowed to the ground. 24 Falling at his feet, she said,“My lord, I accept all the guilt! But please let your female servant speak to you! Please listen to the words of your servant! 25 My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man Nabal. He simply lives up to his name! His name means‘fool,’ and he is indeed foolish! But I, your servant, did not see the servants my lord sent. 26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and as surely as you live, it is the LORD who has kept you from shedding blood and taking matters into your own hands. Now may your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal. 27 Now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the servants who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the sin of your servant, for the LORD will certainly establish a lasting dynasty for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the LORD. May no evil be found in you all your days! 29 When someone sets out to chase you and to take your life, the life of my lord will be wrapped securely in the bag of the living by the LORD your God. But he will sling away the lives of your enemies from the sling’s pocket! 30 The LORD will do for my lord everything that he promised you, and he will make you a leader over Israel. 31 Your conscience will not be overwhelmed with guilt for having poured out innocent blood and for having taken matters into your own hands. When the LORD has granted my lord success, please remember your servant.” 32 Then David said to Abigail,“Praised be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you this day to meet me! 33 Praised be your good judgment! May you yourself be rewarded for having prevented me this day from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands! 34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives– he who has prevented me from harming you– if you had not come so quickly to meet me, by morning’s light not even one male belonging to Nabal would have remained alive!” 35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him. He said to her,“Go back to your home in peace. Be assured that I have listened to you and responded favorably.”
• Gen 32:3-8 : 3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the region of Edom. 4 He commanded them,“This is what you must say to my lord Esau:‘This is what your servant Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now. 5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent this message to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’” 6 The messengers returned to Jacob and said,“We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you and has four hundred men with him.” 7 Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels. 8 “If Esau attacks one camp,” he thought,“then the other camp will be able to escape.”
• Gen 32:13-22 : 13 Jacob stayed there that night. Then he sent as a gift to his brother Esau 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He entrusted them to his servants, who divided them into herds. He told his servants,“Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.” 17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd,“When my brother Esau meets you and asks,‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?’ 18 then you must say,‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. In fact Jacob himself is behind us.’” 19 He also gave these instructions to the second and third servants, as well as all those who were following the herds, saying,“You must say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 You must also say,‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” Jacob thought,“I will first appease him by sending a gift ahead of me. After that I will meet him. Perhaps he will accept me.” 21 So the gifts were sent on ahead of him while he spent that night in the camp. 22 During the night Jacob quickly took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
• Gen 33:3-9 : 3 But Jacob himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed toward the ground seven times as he approached his brother. 4 But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both wept. 5 When Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, he asked,“Who are these people with you?” Jacob replied,“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 The female servants came forward with their children and bowed down. 7 Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down. 8 Esau then asked,“What did you intend by sending all these herds to meet me?” Jacob replied,“To find favor in your sight, my lord.” 9 But Esau said,“I have plenty, my brother. Keep what belongs to you.” 10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said.“If I have found favor in your sight, accept my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, it is as if I have seen the face of God. 11 Please take my present that was brought to you, for God has been generous to me and I have all I need.” When Jacob urged him, he took it.