What Does John 17:20 Mean?
Nor do I ask for these alone, but for those also who will lean their full weight on me through their word.
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
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;THE KEY
The prayer’s circle keeps widening through witness: one person’s word becomes another person’s trust.
THE MEANING
This prayer reaches beyond its first circle to everyone who comes to trust through the word carried by witnesses. Trust here moves from person to person through what they speak about Jesus.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that trust only counts when it comes from a private, direct encounter falls away: this verse includes those who come to trust through another person’s word.
THE ROOT
πιστεύειν
pisteuein
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, reliance; the firmness of placing confidence in someone.
“lean their full weight on me” in this verse is pisteuein. The phrase translated “believe on me” uses trust directed toward Jesus, not merely agreement with an idea. The same word family holds both the act of trusting and the quality of being reliable, so belief here carries the sense of leaning one’s confidence upon him.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, confidence
πίστις
This is the related noun for the trust that comes through the witnesses’ word.
pistos: Firm, steady, reliable
πιστός
This branch shows the firmness at the heart of trust: reliance rests on what is steady.
λόγος
logos
GROWS FROM
λεγ- / λογ- (leg- / log-)
To say or speak; a spoken account or message.
“Their word” is not just a single spoken term; logos can name a message or account carried from one person to another. The verse joins that spoken witness to trust: the message travels, and new trust takes root through it.
ALSO GROWS
legō: Say, speak
λέγω
The verbal family keeps the message grounded in what witnesses say and pass on.
logion: Saying, oracle
λόγιον
This related word shows how a received saying can be carried beyond its first hearers.
THE PATTERN
Trust spreads as received testimony passes from speaker to hearer.
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.But many who heard the word trusted, and the number of the men was about five thousand.So then trust comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.THE THREAD
For I have given them the words you gave me. They have taken hold of them, and they have known in truth that I came out from you, and they have leaned their full weight on the fact that you sent me.John 17:8 uses the same Greek trust word: the disciples receive the words, then trust that Jesus was sent. Here, that received witness keeps moving outward, bringing more people into trust.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us