Bible Strands
Matthew 14:26
When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and cried out in fear.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The disciples witness Jesus walking on the sea during the fourth watch of the night and react with terror, declaring Him a ghost and crying out in fear.
The words — The participle ἰδόντες (idontes) translates literally as "having seen," denoting the visual act that immediately precedes their panic.
The thread — This identical sequence of sight, fear, and ghostly misidentification occurs in Mark 6:49, while the subsequent command to "do not be afraid" mirrors the divine reassurance in Revelation 1:17.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers acknowledge how human observation of supernatural events naturally provokes terror until the divine speaker explicitly identifies Himself and commands courage.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Cross-references
- Revelation 1:17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
- Mark 6:49 but when they saw Him walking on the sea, they cried out, thinking He was a ghost—
- Luke 1:11 Just then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
- Daniel 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of polished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
- 1 Samuel 28:12 But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out in a loud voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
- Job 4:14 fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shudder.
- Luke 24:37 But they were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit.
- Luke 24:45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
- Acts 12:15 “You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
- Luke 24:5 As the women bowed their faces to the ground in terror, the two men asked them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?