What Does 2 Corinthians 11:31 Mean?
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, who is praised to the ages, knows that I do not lie.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.THE KEY
Truth does not become true through insistence; it is already known by God.
THE MEANING
God knows what is true in the words you speak, including the difference between truth and self-defense. The speaker places the claim “I lie not” before God’s knowing, while God is praised through the ages.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A confident denial is not itself proof of innocence; the truth of the claim rests with the one who knows it.
THE ROOT
ψεύδομαι
pseudomai
GROWS FROM
ψευδ-
falsehood, lying
The Greek says, “I do not lie,” using a verb from the same word family as falsehood and liar. The claim is about whether the speaker’s words belong to that family, and it is made before the God who knows.
ALSO GROWS
pseudos: falsehood, lie
ψεῦδος
It shares the root and names what the speaker denies: falsehood in the claim.
pseustēs: liar
ψεύστης
It names one who speaks falsely, showing the same root can describe both a lie and its speaker.
οἶδεν
oiden
GROWS FROM
εἰδ-
see, perceive
“knoweth” in this verse is oiden. The verb for knowing is historically a perfect form of a verb meaning to see: having seen, one knows. God’s knowing here is direct perception, so the speaker’s claim is fully in view.
ALSO GROWS
eidon: saw
εἶδον
This form makes the seeing beneath “knoweth” visible.
eidos: visible form, appearance
εἶδος
It shares the seeing-root and points to what is perceived, not merely reported.
εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας
eis tous aiōnas
GROWS FROM
αἰών
age, a span of time
“to the ages” in this verse is eis tous aiōnas. The phrase speaks of God’s praise through the ages. It gives the statement a horizon wider than the moment in which it is spoken.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: age, span of time
αἰών
This is the root in the phrase translated “for evermore.”
aiōnios: age-long, pertaining to an age
αἰώνιος
This related form carries the same age-root into descriptions of what belongs to an age.
THE PATTERN
Truthful speech is fully seen by God, even when human testimony is contested.
Lying lips make the LORD recoil, but those who work in trust are his delight.To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, you probe me, and you perceive me.And no creation is hidden before him, but all things are naked and bared at the throat to the eyes of him to whom our account belongs.THE THREAD
If we say that we share in common with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth.The Greek verb translated “lie” here shares its root with “I lie not” in 2 Corinthians 11:31. This verse shows a claim being measured against the life that accompanies it, opening the declaration before God into a question of truth lived as well as spoken.
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