MEEK, gentle — the identical word this translation has already met once: 'Happy the MEEK, for they shall inherit the earth' (Matthew 5:5). ⚠ There it named a beatitude to be pursued; here Jesus applies it to himself — 'I am meek and humble in heart' (11:29) — the only two places in this Gospel the word appears, first as a virtue promised a reward and then as a virtue claimed by the one making the promise. Not weakness: Greek writers used the word of a tamed animal or a controlled temper, never a spineless one. → first discussed at Matt 11:29