What Does John 10:33 Mean?
The Jews answered him, It is not for a good work that we stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being human, make yourself God.
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 Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.THE KEY
They concede the work is good; what they condemn is his claim to bear God’s nature.
THE MEANING
A person can concede that a work is good and still condemn its doer over the nature the doer claims. Here the charge of blasphemy turns that claim into a reason for violence, even while the goodness of the work remains admitted.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Doing what is good guarantees acceptance: this verse shows that good work can be acknowledged while the worker is still condemned for who he claims to be.
THE ROOT
βλασφημία
blasphēmia
GROWS FROM
βλασφημ-
blasphēm-
Injurious speech, slander, or insult.
“blasphemy” in this verse is blasphēmia. This word names the accusation that speech dishonors God; it is their verdict on Jesus’ claim. The verse sets that verdict against something they concede is good: they say the work is not what deserves stoning.
ALSO GROWS
blasphēmeō: To speak abusively, slander, or blaspheme.
βλασφημέω
This verb from the same word family names the act they accuse Jesus of committing.
blasphēmos: Slanderous, abusive, or blasphemous.
βλάσφημος
This related form describes speech or a speaker judged to dishonor another.
ἔργον
ergon
GROWS FROM
ἐργ-
erg-
Work, deed, or activity.
The work-family names both a deed and the act of working. They recognize the deed as good, so the conflict turns from what is done to what they infer about the doer.
ALSO GROWS
ergazomai: To work or labor.
ἐργάζομαι
The verb makes the work in the verse an enacted deed, something done rather than merely claimed.
energeia: Activity, operation, or working.
ἐνέργεια
This related form keeps the focus on something actively at work, echoing the deeds they acknowledge.
ποιεῖς
poieis
GROWS FROM
ποι-
poi-
To make, do, or bring about.
This is the verb of making or doing: their accusation frames Jesus’ relation to God as something he makes himself. The wording sharpens the charge as they state it: “thou, being a man, makest thyself God.”
ALSO GROWS
poiēma: A thing made or workmanship.
ποίημα
This noun carries the same making-root into the thing produced.
poiētēs: A maker or doer.
ποιητής
This related noun names the one who makes or acts, keeping attention on the doer in their accusation.
THE PATTERN
When speech is judged to dishonor God, the charge can turn a claim into grounds for death.
And whoever pierces the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the assembly shall certainly stone him. The sojourner as well as the native of the land, when he pierces the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.So for this reason the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his own Father, making himself equal to God.Then the high priest tore his tunic and said, What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What appears to you? And they all judged him bound to death.THE THREAD
Do you say of him, whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, You blaspheme, because I said, I am the Son of God?The very next verse repeats the charge of blasphemy and places it beside the words they say provoke it: “I am the Son of God.” The repeated word family makes the dispute explicit: whether this identity claim counts as speech against God.
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