Bible Strands

Matthew 8:13

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! As you have believed, so will it be done for you.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses the Roman centurion immediately after the centurion acknowledges his own unworthiness and claims Jesus can heal by speaking a word. This exchange concludes before Jesus travels to Peter’s house to heal the mother-in-law.

The words — The Greek ὕπαγε (hupage) literally means "do go" or "depart," serving as a final dismissal that seals the encounter. ἑκατοντάρχῃ· (hekatontarchē) specifies the recipient as a military commander, marking the encounter as a direct interaction between Jewish messianic authority and Roman imperial power.

The thread — The linkage of spoken promise to trusting response appears in Matthew 9:29 and John 4:50, where Jesus ties a specific outcome to the petitioner's faith. Mark 9:23 records a general statement about faith's scope rather than a conditional command tied to a specific request.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine authority operates independently of physical presence or ritual proximity. It requires the reader to accept the spoken word as sufficient without demanding visible verification.

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 Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

Cross-references

People named

Jesus