What Does John 21:13 Mean?
Then Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise.
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
Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.THE KEY
The risen Jesus makes his presence tangible through bread and fish placed into human hands.
THE MEANING
The risen Jesus comes near in a form you can receive: bread, then fish, given into human hands. His presence belongs with your body’s ordinary need for food; provision is shared at the table.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that the risen Jesus is too otherworldly to meet you in bodily need.
THE ROOT
λαμβάνει
lambánei
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambánō
to take, receive, or grasp
“came, took, gave” in this verse is lambánei. The verb holds “take” and “receive” together, so the hand that takes and the person who receives are two angles on one word. Here Jesus takes the food in hand before giving it, making provision a visible passage rather than an abstraction.
ALSO GROWS
paralambánō: receive or take along
παραλαμβάνω
Its sense of receiving highlights the other side of what is taken and passed on.
katalambánō: seize, grasp, overtake, or comprehend
καταλαμβάνω
The same word family can describe taking hold of something, keeping this scene’s provision concrete.
δίδωσιν
didōsin
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
to give, grant, or put into another’s keeping
“came, took, gave” in this verse is didōsin. The verb makes giving an action across a boundary: the food leaves Jesus’ hand and enters theirs. Its word family can also mean returning or handing something over, keeping the act concrete even when English “give” sounds generic.
ALSO GROWS
apodídōmi: give back, repay, or render
ἀποδίδωμι
Its sense of rendering shows how this word family describes something being delivered to another.
paradídōmi: hand over or entrust
παραδίδωμι
This compound makes the handover within the verse especially clear: food moves from Jesus to those gathered.
THE PATTERN
Provision becomes tangible as it is taken, set before others, and shared.
So he placed it before them, and they ate, and some remained, according to the word of the LORD.And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he handed them out to the disciples, and the disciples to those who were reclining, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.And it happened, as he lay down at table with them, that he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and handed it to them.THE THREAD
And it happened, as he lay down at table with them, that he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and handed it to them.The two scenes share λαμβάνω (lambánō, take or receive) and δίδωμι (didōmi, give; compounded as ἐπιδίδωμι in Luke), framing bread through the same taking-and-giving motion. Luke’s next verse says their eyes open and they know him, showing the risen Jesus becoming recognizable at the table.
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