What Does John 11:20 Mean?
So Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
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 Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.THE KEY
John uses the same verb for Martha hearing here and the dead hearing Jesus’ voice into life, so this ordinary report brushes the Gospel’s resurrection language.
THE MEANING
The news of Jesus’ coming reaches Martha, and she goes out to meet him; Mary remains seated in the house. The verse holds movement toward a meeting beside stillness within the home, while Mary’s inner state remains unspoken.
THE ROOT
ἤκουσεν
ēkousen
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
To hear or listen.
“heard” in this verse is ēkousen. English can make hearing sound like passive intake, but this word family also branches into ὑπακοή, responsive listening. Here, hearing the news is followed by Martha going to meet Jesus, bringing reception and response close together without making them identical.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; a report or message heard.
ἀκοή
The news reaching Martha belongs to the same family as hearing itself: what she receives is already carried through listening.
hypakoē: Obedience; responsive listening.
ὑπακοή
This branch shows how hearing can open into an answer, echoing the movement from Martha’s hearing to her going out.
ἔρχεται
erchetai
GROWS FROM
ἐρχ-
To come or go; movement toward or away from a point of view.
Jesus’ arrival is expressed as underway: he is coming as Martha goes to meet him. The Greek root holds coming and going together, letting the verse place two movements on a path toward encounter.
ALSO GROWS
erchomai: To come or go.
ἔρχομαι
This is the verb’s base form and preserves the movement already in progress in the verse.
eiserchomai: To enter; to come in.
εἰσέρχομαι
This compound keeps the same ἐρχ- root and makes the direction of movement explicit.
parerchomai: To pass by or go past.
παρέρχομαι
This compound also carries ἐρχ- and shows how the same root can describe movement from another point of view.
THE PATTERN
Hearing in Scripture opens into a response that can carry the hearer toward encounter, life, or action.
And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.Bend your ear and come to me. Hear and respond, and your living soul shall live. I will cut a covenant of the ages with you, the steady faithful loves of David.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Truly, truly, I say to you, The hour is coming, and now it is, when the dead will hear and respond to the voice of the Son of God, and those who respond will live.Martha hears that Jesus is coming; here Jesus says that the dead hear his voice and live. The shared Greek root ἀκου- links this small act of receiving news with John’s larger language of hearing and 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