What Does John 12:22 Mean?
Philip came and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus.
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
Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.THE KEY
The repeated “tell” makes the path to Jesus a shared relay: one voice receives the request, then two carry it forward.
THE MEANING
The request to see Jesus moves through a human relay: Philip tells Andrew, then the two of them tell Jesus. What begins in one person’s speech becomes a shared approach and reaches the one they seek.
THE ROOT
λέγει
legei
GROWS FROM
λεγ-
λεγ- (leg-) is the speaking stem of λέγω (legō): to say, to speak.
“telleth / tell” in this verse is legei. English shifts from “telleth” to “tell,” but both forms come from the same Greek verb, λέγω (legō, say). The shared stem reveals the verse’s movement: a request travels by being voiced, received, and voiced again.
ALSO GROWS
logos: word, message, account
λόγος
Its λεγ-/λογ- stem variation belongs to the λέγω family: speech also takes shape as a message that can be carried onward.
dialegomai: converse, discuss
διαλέγομαι
This compound keeps the λεγ- stem in speech exchanged between people; Philip and Andrew’s telling becomes a joint report.
THE PATTERN
A movement toward encounter is carried by people who receive a need and bring it onward.
And she said to her mistress, Would that my lord might meet the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would gather him from his leprosy.He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, We have found the Anointed One.And they came to him, bringing a paralyzed man, lifted by four.THE THREAD
He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, We have found the Anointed One.In John 1:41, the same λέγω (legō, say) frames Andrew’s words to his brother: “We have found the Messias.” Here Andrew first receives Philip’s message, then joins him in telling Jesus; the repeated verb makes speech itself the path by which people move toward him.
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