What Does John 10:39 Mean?
So they sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.
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
Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,THE KEY
“Escaped” translates a simple movement, “went out”, so the hands reaching for him never become the boundary of his movement.
THE MEANING
The verse keeps two things distinct for you now: being reached for is not the same as being kept. He goes out of their grasp, and the means remain unstated.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that another person’s ability to reach for you means they can keep you.
THE ROOT
ἐξῆλθεν
exēlthen
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι (érchomai; stem ἐρχ-), with ἐξ- (ex-)
To come or go; with ἐξ-, to go out.
“went out of their hand” in this verse is exēlthen. The Greek ἐξῆλθεν (exēlthen) says “he went out,” while “escaped” can suggest a narrowly won escape. The word pictures movement out of their grasp; the verse leaves the means unstated, but their grasp is not where the action ends.
ALSO GROWS
eisérchomai: Enter, go in.
εἰσέρχομαι
The same movement verb can describe going in; here the prefix ἐξ- turns the movement outward, away from their hold.
prosérchomai: Approach, come near.
προσέρχομαι
This branch also describes movement in relation to someone; in this verse, movement carries him out of the reach of those seeking to seize him.
THE PATTERN
A hand reaching to seize does not become ownership when the one targeted moves out of its grasp.
My times are in your hand; snatch me from the hand of my enemies and from those who pursue me.So they sought to seize him, but no one put a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.And when Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I truly know that the LORD has sent his messenger, and has taken me out of the hand of Herod, and from all that the people of the Jews were waiting for."THE THREAD
Then they lifted stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the middle of them, and so passed by.John 8:59 uses the same verb, ἐξῆλθεν (exēlthen, “went out”), for Jesus leaving the temple. Here it marks movement out of the hands reaching for him, making that earlier departure echo as a pattern of going beyond their grasp.
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