What Does John 20:2 Mean?
So she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have lifted away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have placed him.
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
Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.THE KEY
The word translated “laid” is the same verb Jesus uses for laying down his own life, so the question about location quietly carries a claim about agency.
THE MEANING
You can be certain that someone is gone and still not know what that absence means. The loss feels settled, but the location and agency remain unknown.
THE ROOT
ἔθηκαν
ethēkan
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
to put, place, or set; to lay down
“placed” in this verse is ethēkan. The verb does more than indicate a body’s location: τίθημι means to put or place, and the same verb describes Jesus laying down his life in John 10:18. Its range lets the line hold both a physical placement and the possibility of chosen agency.
ALSO GROWS
epitithēmi: to put or lay upon
ἐπιτίθημι
This compound keeps the root’s sense of placing, making the act of laying him somewhere concrete.
apotithēmi: to put away or lay aside
ἀποτίθημι
Here placement can also mean setting something aside, showing how the root reaches beyond simple location.
ἦραν
ēran
GROWS FROM
αἴρω
airō
to lift, take up, carry, or remove
“lifted away” in this verse is ēran. The verb can mean lifting or carrying as well as taking away. Its other uses include taking up a bed and taking away sin, connecting removal with lifting or bearing in a way the English phrase can flatten.
ALSO GROWS
aron: take up; carry
ἆρον
In John 5:8 the same verb tells someone to take up a bed, showing that taking away can involve carrying something.
airei: lifts; takes away
αἴρει
In John 1:29 the verb describes taking away sin, extending the same root from physical removal to bearing something away.
THE PATTERN
When someone is absent, the first question is often where they are, before the meaning of the absence becomes clear.
And the LORD God called to Adam, and said to him, Where are you?I will rise now and circle the city, in the streets and the wide places, and I will seek him whom my living soul loves; I seek him, but I do not find him.And he said, Where have you placed him? They said to him, Lord, come and see.THE THREAD
No one lifts it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I have received this commandment from my Father.The verb behind “laid” is τίθημι (tithēmi), meaning to put or lay; it is the same verb Jesus uses here for laying down his life. That shared root gives placement a deeper dimension of agency alongside the question of where the body is.
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