# Matthew 5:41

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**Matthew 5:41** is the forty-first verse of [the fifth chapter](/source/Matthew_5) of the [Gospel of Matthew](/source/Gospel_of_Matthew) in the [New Testament](/source/New_Testament) and is part of the [Sermon on the Mount](/source/Sermon_on_the_Mount). This is the fourth verse of the [antithesis](/source/Matthew_5#Antitheses) on the commandment: "[Eye for an eye](/source/Eye_for_an_eye)".

## Content

In the [King James Version](/source/King_James_Version) of the [Bible](/source/Bible) the text reads:

- And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

The [World English Bible](/source/World_English_Bible) translates the passage as:

- Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.

The [Novum Testamentum Graece](/source/Novum_Testamentum_Graece) text is:

- καὶ ὅστις σε ἀγγαρεύσει μίλιον ἕν, ὕπαγε μετ’ αὐτοῦ δύο.

For additional translations see .

## Analysis

The word here translated as *compel*, *angareuo*, is a [Persian](/source/Persian_language) loan word that is a technical term for the [Roman](/source/Ancient_Rome) practice of requisitioning local goods or labour.[1] Schweizer notes that it specifically refers to the power of the Romans to demand that a local serve as a guide or porter. Later at [Matthew 27:32](/source/Matthew_27:32) [Simon of Cyrene](/source/Simon_of_Cyrene) will be forced by such rules to carry Jesus' cross, the only other time in the New Testament the word translated as *compel* is used.[2] The [Zealots](/source/Zealot) loathed this practice, and their refusal to participate in such tasks was an important part of their philosophy and a cause of the [First Jewish–Roman War](/source/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War). According to [R. T. France](/source/R._T._France), these commands would have shocked the Jewish audience as Jesus' response to the [Roman occupation](/source/Roman_Judaea) was starkly different from the other Jewish activists of the period.[3] Jesus says nothing about the propriety of such demands, Schweizer notes that Jesus simply accepts it as fact. [Thomas Aquinas](/source/Thomas_Aquinas) wrote that this verse implies that it is reasonable to follow laws that are unjust, but argued that laws that are unconscionable must not be obeyed.[4]

The word here translated as [mile](/source/Mile) refers to the [Roman definition of 1000 paces](/source/Roman_mile), slightly shorter than a modern mile.[5] The mile was a specifically Roman unit of measure, locally the [stadion](/source/Stadion_(unit_of_length)) was used to measure length. Miles would have been used only by the imperial government and the local occupying forces, which further links this verse with imperial repression.[6] This verse is the origin of the English phrase "going the extra mile", which means to do more than is expected. See [The Extra Mile (disambiguation)](/source/The_Extra_Mile_(disambiguation)) for its usage in popular culture.

## References

1. Hare, Douglas R. A. Matthew. *Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching.* Westminster John Knox Press, 1993 p. 57

1. Harrington, Daniel J. *The Gospel of Matthew.* Liturgical Press, 1991 p. 89

1. [France, R. T.](/source/R._T._France) *The Gospel of Matthew*. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007 p. 222

1. [Schweizer, Eduard](/source/Eduard_Schweizer). *The Good News According to Matthew*. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975

1. Craig S. Keener. *A commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.* Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1999. p. 200

1. Hare, 1993 p. 37.

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