What Does John 20:7 Mean?
And the head-cloth, which had been on his head, was not lying with the linen wrappings, but was rolled up in a place by itself.
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 the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.THE KEY
The head cloth is marked as distinct twice: it is apart from the linen and remains wrapped in its own place.
THE MEANING
You are shown the head cloth apart from the linen, yet still wrapped in a place of its own; the detail makes absence concrete through arrangement. Separation and order stand together here, while the mystery itself remains unexplained.
THE ROOT
χωρίς
chōris
GROWS FROM
χωρ
chōr-
Space or region; χωρίς means apart or separately.
The KJV’s “by itself” can sound like mere solitude, but chōris marks separation in relation to the linen: the cloth is apart from it. The word family moves between space, separating, and separation, so the verse emphasizes distinct placement while the wrapping remains present.
ALSO GROWS
chōra: Region, land, or space
χώρα
It carries the spatial sense behind the cloth’s being in a place of its own.
chōrizō: To separate or part
χωρίζω
It gives the active form of the distinction that chōris describes here.
chōrismos: Separation
χωρισμός
It makes explicit the separating relation between the head cloth and the other linen.
THE PATTERN
A hidden transition becomes visible through what covers a person and how that covering changes.
Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the custom of the Jews to bury.The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.Now Joshua was clothed with soiled garments, and stood before the messenger. And he answered and said to those standing before him, Lift the soiled garments off him. And to him he said, Look, I have caused your crookedness to cross over from you, and I will clothe you with a change of garments.THE THREAD
The one who had died came out, his hands and feet bound in strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped his face. Jesus said to them, Untie him, and let him go.The Greek word translated “napkin” here, σουδάριον (soudarion), appears again for the cloth bound around Lazarus’s face. There it is part of what still binds a living person; here the same word names the head cloth set apart at the tomb.
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