Explainer / Torah

Matthew 5:17

Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the prophets: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Μὴ νομίσητε ὅτι ἦλθον καταλῦσαι τὸν νόμον ἢ τοὺς προφήτας· οὐκ ἦλθον καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι.

Compare with the ASV

Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfil.

Why

1. νόμος

   Here νόμος is the Mosaic law, paired with "the prophets." This version renders νόμος as "Torah" wherever it means the Mosaic law.

2. "The Torah or the prophets"

   is a name for the Scriptures that Matthew uses again in 7:12 and 22:40.

3. καταλῦσαι

   is "to tear down, destroy." Matthew uses the same verb for the stones of the Temple being thrown down (24:2) and for the charge that Yeshua would destroy the Temple (26:61).

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   "Destroy" keeps that sense.

4. The sentence is built on a contrast

   οὐκ … καταλῦσαι ἀλλὰ πληρῶσαι, "not to destroy, but to fulfill." The two verbs are set against each other.

5. πληρῶσαι

   is from πληρόω, "to fill, fulfill." Matthew uses the same verb for Scripture coming true (1:22, 2:15, 2:17).

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   "Fulfill" is the English word the ASV uses in those places, so we kept it here.

Read Matthew 5:17 in context