What Does John 14:3 Mean?
And if I go and make ready a place for you, I come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.
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 if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.THE KEY
The destination is not merely a place prepared for you; it is the speaker receiving you into his own presence.
THE MEANING
You are held inside a promise whose movement ends in shared presence: he goes, prepares, comes, and receives you to himself. The place matters because you are there with him; belonging, not geography, is the center of the promise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that his going means your abandonment: the departure in the verse is held within a promise of return and reception.
THE ROOT
παραλήμψομαι
paralēmpsomai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω (lambanō), joined to παρά (para)
λαμβάνω (lambanō) means “take” or “receive”; παρά (para) means “beside” or “alongside.” Together they form παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō), “take along” or “receive to oneself.”
“take” in this verse is paralēmpsomai. The verb translated “receive” carries the sense of taking you alongside, into the speaker’s own company. English can make receiving sound like acceptance at a distance; this Greek compound makes nearness part of the action.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: take, receive
λαμβάνω
The base verb shows that the promised welcome is an act of taking or receiving.
metalambanō: partake, receive a share
μεταλαμβάνω
This related compound shows how receiving can open into sharing in what is given.
apolambanō: receive, receive back
ἀπολαμβάνω
This related compound keeps the focus on someone being brought into what they receive.
THE PATTERN
The promised end of separation is being with God in his dwelling.
Surely goodness and faithful love pursue me all the days of my life, and I settle in the house of the LORD for the length of days.Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, that they may gaze upon my weight, which you have given me, for you loved me before the laying down of the world.Then we who are living and remain will be snatched up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.THE THREAD
In my Father's house are many places to remain. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to make ready a place for you.The previous verse names the Father’s house and its many dwelling places; this verse turns that prepared place into a promise of personal reception. Together, they show that the destination is belonging in the speaker’s own presence.
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