Matthew 28:20

Studied by claude-opus-5-5 October 8, 2026

διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.

didaskontes autous tērein panta hosa eneteilamēn hymin; kai idou egō meth' hymōn eimi pasas tas hēmeras heōs tēs synteleias tou aiōnos.

teaching them to-keep all-things as-many-as I-commanded you; and look! I with you am all the days until the completion of-the age.

What it meant

Jesus is still finishing the sentence that began in verse 19. The disciples are to make disciples of all the nations, and they do it in two ways: by baptising people and by teaching them. That teaching is not meant to produce people who simply know things. It is meant to produce people who keep what Jesus said: who guard it, hold on to it and carry it out day after day. The content is everything whatsoever I commanded you, the whole body of instruction Jesus already gave during his ministry. He puts it in the words Moses used for God's commandments ("all that I command you"), so the risen Jesus speaks as the one whose word now carries that kind of authority. Then comes a solemn announcement: "Look! I myself am with you." It is the old promise God gave Jacob, Moses, Joshua and the prophets when he sent them on hard tasks, and it closes the frame Matthew opened with the name "Immanuel, God with us" (1:23). It is in the present tense, "I am with you," and it holds for all the days, every one of them, without a gap, until the completion of the age. That means until this present era reaches its God-appointed close and the age to come arrives, not until the planet is destroyed.

Where the English drifted

end of the world (KJV) synteleia tou aiōnos

What we hear

The destruction of the earth or the universe, the 'apocalypse' of disaster films.

What they heard

The completion of the present age, the appointed close of this era of history when God's judgment and the age to come arrive. The stress is on reaching a goal, not on the planet ending.

Where the later meaning came from: Latin 'consummatio saeculi' (Vulgate) carried into English as 'end of the world' by Tyndale and the KJV. Modern popular ideas of global catastrophe have filled out 'world' since.
observe (KJV, ESV, NASB, WEB) tērein

What we hear

To watch, notice or take note of something.

What they heard

To keep, guard and carry out: holding on to Jesus' commands and living them.

Where the later meaning came from: Shift in everyday English usage. The older sense 'keep, comply with' survives mainly in phrases like 'observe the law' or 'observe a holiday.'
I am with you egō meth' hymōn eimi

What we hear

Often heard mainly as private, emotional companionship, a feeling that Jesus is near.

What they heard

The biblical formula by which God promises active help, protection and backing to those he sends on his business. The comfort is real, but it is the presence of the sender with his agents in their mission.

Where the later meaning came from: Devotional use that quotes the promise apart from the commission it is attached to. The common reading is partly right: the promise does bring comfort, and it is personal.

What the first hearers heard

Authority of teaching settled. For a community arguing with other Jewish teachers over how to live God's will, this verse named the norm: everything Jesus commanded, faithfully handed on. Discipleship meant learning to keep that teaching, as Israel was taught to keep Torah (God's instruction), not merely to agree with it.
Continuity with the eyewitnesses. "That I commanded you" tied the community's teaching to the eleven who actually heard Jesus. What was taught to the nations had to be what he said.
A mission beyond Israel. Coming after "all the nations" (v. 19), the verse meant Gentiles were to be brought into the same teaching and the same keeping. Earlier the disciples had been sent only to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (10:5–6).
God's presence relocated in Jesus. A Jewish hearer would recognise "Look, I am with you" as God's own promise to patriarchs and prophets. Hearing the risen Jesus say it, and remembering "Immanuel, God with us" from the opening chapter, they understood that God's presence was now found in him, among his gathered followers (18:20). That would matter even more after the Temple's destruction.
Courage for the whole interval. "All the days until the completion of the age" covered the whole uncertain stretch between resurrection and final judgment: persecution (ch. 10), false teachers and delay (ch. 24). No day of that time was left without Jesus. The doubters of 28:17 receive no rebuke, only a commission and a promise.

Every word

διδάσκοντες
didaskontes · G1321

teaching

A present participle hanging on the command 'make disciples' in verse 19: teaching is one of the two ways (with baptizing) that disciples are made. The present form pictures teaching that goes on and on, not a one-time course.
αὐτοὺς
autous · G846

them

Masculine plural, referring to the people from 'all the nations' who are being made disciples. The word for 'nations' is neuter, so 'them' means the persons, not the nations as political units.
τηρεῖν
tērein · G5083

to keep, guard, observe

The goal of the teaching: not only that people know Jesus' commands but that they keep them, guarding and carrying them out. The present form means keeping them as an ongoing way of life.
πάντα
panta · G3956

all

'All things.' Nothing Jesus commanded is optional or left out. This is one of four 'all's in verses 18–20: all authority, all nations, all things, all the days.
ὅσα
hosa · G3745

as many as, whatever

'As many as' or 'whatever.' Together with 'all' it makes a sweeping phrase, 'everything whatsoever,' that echoes how Moses speaks of 'all that I command you.'
ἐνετειλάμην
eneteilamēn · G1781

I commanded, gave orders

Past tense, looking back on the whole of Jesus' teaching during his ministry as a finished body of instruction. It is the verb the Greek Old Testament uses for God and Moses giving commandments, so Jesus speaks here as the giver of authoritative commandments.
ὑμῖν
hymin · G4771

to you (plural)

The eleven disciples (28:16). They heard the commands first and now pass them on, so what reaches the nations is what Jesus actually said to them.
καὶ
kai · G2532

and

Joins the commission to the promise. The task and the presence go together.
ἰδοὺ
idou · G2400

look! behold!

A call to attention, like the Hebrew 'hinneh,' which Matthew uses often. It marks what follows as something important and solemnly announced. 'Surely' (BSB, NIV) keeps the emphasis but drops the 'Look!'
ἐγὼ
egō · G1473

I

The pronoun is spelled out though the verb already includes 'I,' so it is emphatic: 'I myself,' the one who has just claimed all authority in heaven and on earth (v. 18).
μεθ᾽
meth' · G3326

with

'With' in the sense of company and active support. 'I am with you' is the standard Old Testament formula for God's presence with someone he has sent on a task.
ὑμῶν
hymōn · G4771

you (plural)

Plural: the disciples as a group, and through them the community that carries out the commission.
εἰμι
eimi · G1510

I am

Present tense: 'I am with you,' not 'I will be.' The presence is stated as a fact that already holds and continues.
πάσας
pasas · G3956

all

'All' of the days. It is the last of the four 'all's in the passage.
τὰς
tas · G3588

the

The definite article: 'the days,' the whole run of days that lies ahead.
ἡμέρας
hēmeras · G2250

days

The case expresses how long something lasts: 'for all the days.' It is more concrete than 'always': every single day, one after another (YLT keeps this).
ἕως
heōs · G2193

until, as far as

Marks the endpoint of the period. It does not mean the presence stops then. It means the promise covers the whole time up to the age's completion.
τῆς
tēs · G3588

the

Definite article: 'the' completion, a known, expected event.
συντελείας
synteleias · G4930

completion, consummation, close

Not just a stopping point but a bringing-to-completion, the point at which something reaches its intended end. Matthew uses this phrase for the final judgment and harvest (13:39–49; 24:3).
τοῦ
tou · G3588

of the

Definite article: 'the' age, meaning the present one.
αἰῶνος
aiōnos · G165

age, era

An age, a long period of time. Here it means 'this age,' which Jewish thought set against 'the age to come.' It is not 'the world' as a physical place.
ἀμήν
amēn · G281

amen, truly, so be it

Found only in later manuscripts and editions (here, the edition behind the KJV). It is a liturgical close added by scribes, not Jesus' last word. WEB prints it outside the quotation marks for this reason.

Key words, in depth

τηρέω tēreō G5083

Range of meaning: To keep watch over, guard, hold in custody (prisoners, a tomb); to keep something safe or intact; to keep or carry out a rule, commandment or tradition. The common thread is protective holding: you keep something by guarding it and by not letting it go.
Against the English: KJV, ESV, NASB and WEB say 'observe'; BSB, NIV and NLT say 'obey.' 'Obey' gets the practical point across but loses the sense of guarding and keeping safe. 'Observe' meant 'keep, comply with' in older English and still can, but many readers now hear 'look at' or 'notice.'
How it drifted: In the English word 'observe,' the meaning 'watch, notice' has taken over in everyday speech from the older 'keep, comply with' (as in 'observe the Sabbath'), so the KJV wording can now sound like watching Jesus' commands rather than doing them.
Used elsewhere in the period: Matthew uses it for keeping commandments: 19:17 ('keep the commandments') and 23:3 ('do and keep whatever they tell you'). He also uses it for the guards watching Jesus' cross (27:36, 54) and the guards at the tomb (28:4, 'those keeping guard'). So a few verses before this one, the tomb guards were 'keeping' the dead Jesus. Now the disciples are to 'keep' the living Jesus' commands, a possible deliberate echo. In Jewish Greek it appears for keeping God's law (e.g. Tobit 14:9). Other New Testament writings use it the same way (John 14:15; 1 John 2:3; Revelation 12:17; 14:12, 'keep the commandments of God').
What it does in this verse: The teaching is aimed at practice. It does not set out to produce people who can repeat Jesus' teaching but people who hold on to it and live it out. 'Teaching them to keep' echoes how Israel was taught Torah, God's instruction, which it was meant to guard and do (Deut 4:1–6; 5:1).

ἐντέλλομαι entellomai G1781

Range of meaning: To give an order, command or instruct, usually from someone with authority to a subordinate or agent. In the Greek Old Testament it is the usual verb for God, and Moses on God's behalf, giving commandments.
Against the English: English 'commanded' is accurate. What English readers miss is how this exact verb sounds in the Greek Bible: 'all that I commanded you' is Moses' and God's way of speaking.
Used elsewhere in the period: The Greek Old Testament has many close parallels. Exodus 29:35, 'according to all that I commanded you.' Deuteronomy 4:2, 'the word that I command you... keep the commandments.' Joshua 1:7, Joshua told 'to keep and do according to all that Moses commanded you.' Jeremiah 1:7, 'all that I command you, you shall speak.' The pairing 'keep + all that I commanded' is typical Deuteronomy language.
What it does in this verse: Jesus takes the place Moses held in Deuteronomy, and in fact the place of God, whose commandments Moses passed on. The past tense points to a finished body of teaching: what the disciples are to pass on is what Jesus already taught, above all in Matthew's five great blocks of teaching (chs. 5–7, 10, 13, 18, 24–25), not new revelation added later.

ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμι idou egō meth' hymōn eimi G2400, G1473, G3326, G1510

Range of meaning: 'Look, I am with you' is a fixed formula in the Hebrew Bible and its Greek translation. In it God promises his active presence, protection and help to someone he sends on a hard task.
Against the English: Translations render it accurately. What modern readers can miss is that the phrase is a quotation-like formula with a long history, not only a comforting sentiment, and that the speaker is using words the Scriptures put in God's mouth.
Used elsewhere in the period: Genesis 28:15 (Greek): 'and look, I am with you,' God to Jacob as he leaves the land. Exodus 3:12: God to Moses at his commissioning, 'I will be with you.' Joshua 1:5: 'as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.' Isaiah 41:10; 43:5: 'do not fear, for I am with you.' Haggai 1:13: 'I am with you, says the Lord.' Matthew 1:23 opened the Gospel by naming Jesus 'Immanuel... God with us.' At 18:20 Jesus said 'where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.' A later rabbinic saying (Mishnah Avot 3:2, 2nd century) says that when two sit and discuss Torah, God's presence rests among them.
What it does in this verse: The Gospel ends where it began: 'God with us' (1:23) becomes 'I am with you' (28:20). These two statements frame the whole book. The risen Jesus speaks the presence promise that the Scriptures reserve for God, and he attaches it to a task, the mission to the nations. It is the presence of the one who sends, given to his agents for their work, not a general reassurance cut loose from the commission.

συντέλεια synteleia G4930

Range of meaning: Completion, consummation, the bringing of something to its full and intended end. In Jewish writing about the last days, the appointed close of history's present phase.
Against the English: English 'end' can suggest a mere stop or destruction. YLT's 'full end' and 'consummation' (used in older Catholic translations from the Latin 'consummatio') better catch the sense of a goal being reached.
How it drifted: 'End of the world' in popular imagination calls up cosmic catastrophe. The Greek stresses completion and arrival at a goal, which includes judgment (Matt 13:39–43) but is not only destruction.
Used elsewhere in the period: In the New Testament the phrase 'completion of the age' is found only in Matthew (13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20). Hebrews 9:26 has 'at the completion of the ages.' The Greek versions of Daniel use the word for God's appointed end time (Dan 9:27; 12:4, 13). The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs speak of 'the completion of the ages' (Testament of Levi 10:2).
What it does in this verse: The promise reaches all the way to the moment Matthew has repeatedly described as the harvest and judgment at the close of this age (13:39–49), the moment the disciples asked about in 24:3. The presence covers the whole time between resurrection and final completion. No stretch of that interval is left without Jesus.

αἰών aiōn G165

Range of meaning: A long stretch of time: an age or era; a lifetime; 'forever' in set phrases ('into the age'). In Jewish thought of the time, history was split into 'this age' and 'the age to come' (Hebrew ha-'olam ha-zeh / ha-'olam ha-ba). By extension it could mean the state of affairs in a given age, which is why it sometimes comes close to 'world.'
Against the English: KJV renders 'end of the world,' following earlier English Bibles and the Latin 'saeculum.' Modern versions say 'age.' 'World' is not absurd, since the word can mean the present world-order, but in English it suggests the physical planet or cosmos, a different Greek word (kosmos).
How it drifted: The Latin Vulgate's 'saeculum' (an age, generation, the present world-order) was rendered 'world' in Tyndale and the KJV. Today 'end of the world' means the planet's destruction, an idea the Greek phrase does not centre on.
Used elsewhere in the period: Matthew 12:32: 'neither in this age nor in the age to come.' 4 Ezra 7:50 (late 1st century AD): 'the Most High has made not one age but two.' The two-age pattern is common in Jewish writing about the last days and in later rabbinic texts.
What it does in this verse: 'The completion of the age' means the close of the present era, when God's kingdom fully arrives and the age to come begins. Jesus' presence is promised for the whole of 'this age,' the time of mission, until God's new age replaces it.

διδάσκω didaskō G1321

Range of meaning: To teach, instruct. In a Jewish setting, especially to explain God's instruction and how to live it, as a rabbi or synagogue teacher did. Teaching aimed at shaping how people live, not only passing on information.
Against the English: Accurate in English, though 'teaching' can suggest classroom content or doctrine. Here the object of the teaching is explicitly 'to keep.'
Used elsewhere in the period: In Matthew, teaching is Jesus' own work (4:23; 5:2; 7:28–29, 'he taught them as one having authority'; 9:35). The disciples are sent to proclaim (10:7) but never told to teach until now. Matthew 23:8: 'you have one Teacher.' Matthew 5:19: 'whoever does and teaches these commandments will be called great.'
What it does in this verse: For the first time in Matthew, the disciples are authorised to do what only Jesus did: teach. Even so, what they teach is not their own. It is 'all that I commanded,' so Jesus stays the one Teacher (23:8) while they hand on his teaching.

The world behind it

The scene. The eleven disciples meet Jesus on a mountain in Galilee (28:16). Some worship and "some doubted" (28:17). Jesus speaks only once, and verse 20 is the last line of the Gospel. Matthew has no ascension scene. The book ends on the promise of presence, not on a departure.

Commissioning pattern. Israel's Scriptures have a recognisable way of sending someone on a mission: a statement of authority, a task, and a promise of God's presence. Moses handed leadership to Joshua at the edge of the land (Deut 31:23; Josh 1:1–9), with the charge to "keep and do all that Moses commanded" and the promise "I will be with you." Matthew's Jesus has been portrayed as a new Moses throughout (born under a murderous king, teaching on a mountain, five blocks of teaching). A hearer steeped in Deuteronomy would catch the echo at once, with one difference: here Jesus is both the commander and the one who promises to be present.

Matthew's first readers. Most scholars think Matthew was written for a largely Jewish-Christian community, probably in Syria, in the decades after the Temple fell in AD 70. Who rightly taught God's will was a live question: Matthew 23 contrasts Jesus with scribes and Pharisees who "sit on Moses' seat." For this community, "teaching them to keep all that I commanded" answered the question of authority. The standard of faithful living was Jesus' teaching, handed down by his appointed students. And with the Temple gone, God's presence among his people was found in the risen Jesus, who is "with you."

Two ages. Jews of the period widely divided history into "this age" and "the age to come." "The completion of the age" was a known expression for the turn between them, with judgment and the full arrival of God's kingdom. Matthew uses it for the harvest at the end in the parables (13:39–49) and for the disciples' question in 24:3.

How the translations handle it

BSB and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
KJV Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.
WEB teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
YLT teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days — till the full end of the age.'

KJV“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Gets right: 'All things whatsoever' captures the sweep of 'all, as many as.' 'Lo' keeps the call to attention. In 1611 'observe' correctly meant 'keep.'
Loses: 'End of the world' turns 'age' (aiōn) into 'world,' which now suggests the planet's destruction. 'Observe' has drifted toward 'watch.' The final 'Amen' comes from late manuscripts.

BSB“teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Gets right: 'Obey' makes the practical aim clear. 'Age' is correct.
Loses: 'Surely' loses the 'Look!' of idou. 'Obey' loses the sense of guarding and keeping. 'Always' flattens 'all the days.'

NIV

Gets right: Clear and natural. 'The very end of the age' gets the sense of completion across.
Loses: Like BSB: 'surely' replaces 'look!', and 'obey' narrows tērein.

ESV“to observe all... And behold, I am with you always”

Gets right: Keeps 'behold' for idou and the traditional 'observe.' Uses 'age.'
Loses: 'Observe' can be misheard as 'watch.' 'Always' for 'all the days.'

NASB“to observe all that I commanded you; and lo”

Gets right: Simple past 'commanded' matches the Greek tense. Keeps 'lo' for idou.
Loses: Same 'observe' ambiguity for modern ears.

NLT“Teach these new disciples to obey... And be sure of this”

Gets right: Very clear about who is taught and that obedience is the goal.
Loses: Turns the participle into a separate command, so teaching no longer clearly describes how disciples are made (v. 19). 'Be sure of this' paraphrases idou.

WEB“teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

Gets right: Accurate and literal-leaning. Puts 'Amen' outside the quotation, signalling it is not Jesus' word.
Loses: Includes 'Amen' at all, from the later text. 'Observe' ambiguity.

YLT“teaching them to observe all, whatever I did command you,) and lo, I am with you all the days — till the full end of the age.”

Gets right: Keeps 'all the days' and 'the full end of the age,' close to the Greek. Omits the late 'Amen.'
Loses: Awkward English. The stray parenthesis comes from YLT's punctuation of verses 19–20.

Text and manuscripts

The closing 'Amen'. Some manuscripts (the Byzantine majority and the later tradition behind the Textus Receptus; the supplied data marks it as present only in that edition) add amēn. The earliest witnesses lack it, including Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus and Codex Bezae. Modern critical editions (Nestle-Aland, the UBS edition) omit it. Scribes often added 'Amen' at the end of a book read in worship; compare the endings of Mark, Luke and John in later manuscripts. The KJV prints it. WEB keeps it but outside Jesus' quotation.

Latin Vulgate. docentes eos servare omnia quaecumque mandavi vobis et ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi. 'Servare' (keep, preserve) fits tērein well. 'Omnibus diebus' keeps 'all the days.' 'Consummatio saeculi' is behind both the older Catholic 'consummation of the world' and the KJV 'end of the world.'

Supplied data. The lemma, morphology and glosses supplied agree with the standard critical text. The contextual gloss 'I myself' for egō properly reflects the emphatic pronoun. The gloss 'completion' for synteleia is preferable to plain 'end.'

Many later manuscripts and the Byzantine tradition (followed by the Textus Receptus and the KJV) add 'Amen' after 'age'. The earliest major manuscripts (Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Bezae) lack it, and it is best explained as a scribe's closing word for reading in worship, not part of Jesus' speech.

Where scholars differ

What does 'all that I commanded you' include, especially concerning the Law of Moses?

Jesus' commands include the Torah as he interpreted it; Matthew's community continued to keep the Law in Jesus' way.

Matthew 5:17–19 ('not one iota will pass from the Law... whoever does and teaches these commandments'); 23:2–3, 23 (tithing 'without neglecting the others'); 24:20 (fleeing not on a Sabbath). Scholars such as Saldarini, Overman and Sim read Matthew as Law-observant Jewish Christianity.
Jesus' own teaching is now the authoritative standard. It fulfils and in places reshapes the Law, and it is what Gentile disciples receive.

The 'You have heard... but I say to you' sayings (5:21–48); 15:1–20 on purity; baptism, not circumcision, is named as the entry rite for the nations in 28:19; 'all authority' is now given to Jesus (28:18). Associated with Meier, Luz and others. Many scholars hold a middle position: the Law stays valid but only as Jesus interprets it.

Which Old Testament pattern lies behind this closing scene?

The commissioning of Joshua by Moses (and other commissioning stories).

Deuteronomy 31:23 and Joshua 1:5–9 combine 'keep all that Moses commanded' with 'I will be with you'; Matthew's Moses typology elsewhere. Argued by Hubbard (1974) and Allison (The New Moses).
The enthronement of the Son of Man in Daniel 7.

Verse 18, 'all authority... has been given to me,' echoes Greek Daniel 7:14 (authority given; all peoples serve him); verse 20's 'completion of the age' fits Daniel's interest in the end. Favoured by Meier, France and others.
The decree of Cyrus that closes the Hebrew Bible in its Jewish order (2 Chronicles 36:23).

It also has universal authority given by heaven, a sending ('let him go up') and 'the LORD his God be with him.' Noted as a possible echo by Davies & Allison; it rests on the order of the Jewish canon in the 1st century, which is less certain.

Sources

BDAG s.v. τηρέω, ἐντέλλομαι, συντέλεια, αἰών, ἰδού
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon s.v. συντέλεια, αἰών
Septuagint (Rahlfs): Gen 28:15; Exod 3:12; 29:35; Deut 4:2; 31:23; Josh 1:5–7; Isa 41:10; 43:5; Jer 1:7; Hag 1:13; Dan 9:27; 12:4, 13
Nestle-Aland 28th ed., apparatus at Matt 28:20
W. D. Davies & D. C. Allison, Matthew (ICC), vol. 3
U. Luz, Matthew 21–28 (Hermeneia)
D. A. Hagner, Matthew 14–28 (WBC)
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT)
B. J. Hubbard, The Matthean Redaction of a Primitive Apostolic Commissioning (1974)
D. C. Allison, The New Moses: A Matthean Typology (1993)
D. D. Kupp, Matthew's Emmanuel (1996)
4 Ezra 7:50; Testament of Levi 10:2; Mishnah Avot 3:2
Latin Vulgate, Matt 28:20

Original-language data: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (CC BY 4.0).

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