What Does John 11:14 Mean?
Then Jesus said to them in the open, Lazarus has died.
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
Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.THE KEY
The word translated “plainly” means open, frank speech: Jesus names death without the covering of a euphemism.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with a painful reality spoken directly: Lazarus has died. What had been softened into “sleep” is now named without ambiguity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that calling death “sleep” preserves the truth here: Jesus makes the reality explicit.
THE ROOT
παρρησίᾳ
parrēsia
GROWS FROM
παρρησία
parrēsia
Openness and frankness in speech; freedom to speak without concealment.
“in the open” in this verse is parrēsia. English “plainly” can suggest a clear manner of speaking, while παρρησίᾳ (parrēsia, “openly, frankly”) emphasizes unreserved speech. Jesus removes the ambiguity left by the disciples’ reading of “sleep” and states what is happening directly.
ALSO GROWS
parrēsia: Frankness, boldness, or openness in speech.
παρρησία
The same noun appears as “boldness” in Acts 4:13, showing that this openness is a quality of speaking without concealment.
parrēsiazomai: To speak openly or boldly.
παρρησιάζομαι
This verb appears as “preached boldly” in Acts 9:27; it makes explicit the action carried by the openness in Jesus’ words.
ἀπέθανεν
apethanen
GROWS FROM
θνῄσκω
thnēskō
To die; undergo death.
The Greek verb ἀπέθανεν (apethanen, “died”) names the event, while the KJV gives its resulting state as “is dead.” The statement leaves no room to mistake death for sleep.
ALSO GROWS
apothnēskō: To die.
ἀποθνῄσκω
This is the dictionary form of the verb translated “is dead”; John uses the same verb family again when Jesus speaks of one who is dead yet will live.
thanatos: Death.
θάνατος
This related noun names the same reality directly, reinforcing how completely Jesus states what has happened.
THE PATTERN
Truth becomes clear when speech names what is happening without euphemism.
These are the things you shall do. Speak each man the truth to his neighbor, and judge the judgment of truth and wholeness in your gates.I have spoken these things to you in sayings. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in sayings, but in full voice I will bring you word of the Father.Therefore, taking off lying, speak truth, each one with his neighbor, for we are limbs of one another.THE THREAD
Jesus said to her, I am the rising, and the life. Whoever leans their weight into me, even if they die, will live.The same Greek verb family, ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnēskō, “to die”), lies behind “is dead” here and “though he were dead” in verse 25. There, death remains fully named in the sentence that also speaks of life.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us