What Does John 17:9 Mean?
I ask for them. I do not ask for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
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
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.THE KEY
Those given to Jesus still belong to God.
THE MEANING
Jesus’ prayer names its boundary: he asks for the people God has given him, not for the world. Those received by Jesus still belong to God; both relationships stand together now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the fear that being given to Jesus means being taken away from God: it says they are still God’s.
THE ROOT
δέδωκάς
dedōkas
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give or grant; in this context, to place someone in another’s care.
The form carries the sense of a completed giving with a present result: these people are given to Jesus now. Yet the verse says they remain God’s, so the giving does not erase their belonging.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: Giving; a gift.
δόσις
This noun from the same root shows that the people are given into Jesus’ care as a gift, while the verse keeps their belonging to God in view.
dotēs: Giver.
δότης
This branch names the one who gives, drawing attention to God as the source of the giving in this verse.
κόσμου
kosmou
GROWS FROM
κόσμος
kosmos
Order or arrangement; also the world.
This word family carries the sense of arrangement and adornment as well as “world.” Here Jesus draws a sharp boundary between the people given to him and the world, while the root adds depth to the word’s scope.
ALSO GROWS
kosmeō: To arrange or adorn.
κοσμέω
This related verb carries the root’s sense of putting things in order, revealing the connection between kosmos and arrangement.
kosmios: Orderly or well-arranged.
κόσμιος
This adjective preserves the same root sense of order, a meaning that sits beneath the word translated “world.”
THE PATTERN
The Father’s giving places people in Jesus’ care while their belonging to the Father remains.
I have made your nature visible to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have guarded your word.My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and who shaped you, O Israel. Do not fear, for I have bought you back; I have called you by your name; you are mine.THE THREAD
I have made your nature visible to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have guarded your word.The same δίδωμι (didōmi, “give”) root appears in “gavest” and “given.” John 17:6 makes the relationship explicit: they belonged to God, and God gave them to Jesus; John 17:9 keeps that belonging intact.
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