Bible Strands
Matthew 26:73
After a little while, those standing nearby came up to Peter. “Surely you are one of them,” they said, “for your accent gives you away.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — After Peter's second denial, bystanders approach him shortly afterward and identify him as a follower of Jesus based on his regional speech.
The words — μικρὸν (mikron) literally means "a little while," marking the brief interval between Peter's denials and the immediate pressure of his surroundings.
The thread — The text records this dialect-based identification, which parallels the Shibboleth test in Judges 12:6 and the servant's recognition in John 18:26 where speech patterns expose hidden affiliations.
Why it lands — The passage states that observable traits and external pressure can force public renunciation, requiring readers to acknowledge how situational exposure tests declared loyalty.
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 after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Cross-references
- Judges 12:6 they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. So at that time 42,000 Ephraimites were killed.
- John 18:26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?”
- Nehemiah 13:24 Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or of the other peoples, but could not speak the language of Judah.
- Luke 22:59 About an hour later, another man insisted, “Certainly this man was with Him, for he too is a Galilean.”