What Does John 12:20 Mean?
Now there were some Greeks among those going up to bow down at the feast.
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
And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:THE KEY
The Greeks come to the feast by way of a bow: the word translated “worship” carries the body into their approach.
THE MEANING
The verse keeps the Greeks named as Greeks as they draw near among the worshippers. Their approach is expressed as bowing down, with their identity still visible.
THE ROOT
προσκυνήσωσιν
proskynēsōsin
GROWS FROM
προσκυνέω
proskyneō
To bow down, prostrate oneself, or render obeisance.
“bow down” in this verse is proskynēsōsin. The Greeks’ purpose is a bodily act of lowering themselves in reverence. Their approach to the feast carries their identity with it; the verse does not erase who they are as they bow.
ALSO GROWS
proskynēsis: The act of bowing down or worship.
προσκύνησις
This noun makes the bodily posture within the verse’s act of worship explicit.
proskynētēs: A worshipper; one who bows down.
προσκυνητής
This names the person by the posture of approach that the Greeks take up here.
THE PATTERN
The approach to God opens across peoples, gathering worshippers whose identities remain distinct.
All the nations you made come and bow down before your face, O Lord, and give weight to your name.Them also will I bring to my set-apart mountain, and gladden them in my house of prayer. Their ascending offerings and their sacrifices shall be received with favor upon my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.And he arose and went; and behold, an Ethiopian eunuch, an official of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to bow down.THE THREAD
And he arose and went; and behold, an Ethiopian eunuch, an official of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to bow down.Acts uses the same Greek verb translated “worship,” with the sense of bowing down. John names Greeks coming to worship; Acts shows an Ethiopian official making the same approach, so the shared posture crosses distinct identities.
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