What Does John 18:24 Mean?
Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.
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
Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.THE KEY
Being sent does not mean being released: Jesus is moved onward while still bound.
THE MEANING
When someone else controls your movement, this verse names the experience plainly: you can be sent onward while still bound. It keeps the sender, the restrained body, and the receiving authority in view, showing how custody passes a person from hand to hand.
THE ROOT
δεδεμένον
dedemenon
GROWS FROM
δέω
deō
to bind or tie fast
The form presents Jesus as one who has been bound and remains bound as he is sent. The restraint is part of the transfer itself, not something left behind.
ALSO GROWS
desmos: bond, fetter
δεσμός
This noun makes the physical restraint in the verse visible: Jesus is held by bonds as he is moved.
desmeuō: to bind, confine
δεσμεύω
This verb shows the same binding root extending from a person’s bonds to the act of placing someone under restraint.
ἀπέστειλεν
apesteilen
GROWS FROM
ἀποστέλλω
apostellō
to send away, dispatch
“sent” in this verse is apesteilen. Here, sending is a transfer of custody: Annas is the one dispatching Jesus, and Caiaphas is the destination. Beside the binding verb, the word shows movement without freedom.
ALSO GROWS
apostolos: one sent
ἀπόστολος
This related noun names a person by the fact of being sent, highlighting how the verb focuses on dispatch.
apostolē: sending, commission
ἀποστολή
This noun carries the act of sending into the idea of an assigned dispatch; here, the sender and destination make the transfer concrete.
THE PATTERN
Human authority uses bonds to make a person’s body subject to transfer or confinement.
They bent his feet in fetters; into iron his living soul came.And he asked of him letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, whether they were men or women, he might lead them bound to Jerusalem.In this I bear ill, even unto bonds, as one who works ill; but the word of God is not bound.THE THREAD
In this I bear ill, even unto bonds, as one who works ill; but the word of God is not bound.The Greek δεδεμένον (dedemenon, “bound”) here and δέδεμαι (dedemai, “I am bound”) in 2 Timothy come from δέω (deō, “bind”). The shared root keeps bodily restraint in view, while 2 Timothy marks its limit: the person can be bound, but the word is not.
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