What Does John 6:1 Mean?
After these things Jesus went across the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
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
After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.THE KEY
The sea is named twice, but the movement is singular: Jesus is already on the far side, where the next encounter begins.
THE MEANING
Jesus crosses to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. You meet the scene after the crossing, with Jesus already beyond the shore. His name carries the sense of deliverance into spaciousness, and the next scene will show what that movement opens.
THE ROOT
πέραν
peran
GROWS FROM
περα
The Greek stem περα- (pera-) carries the sense of beyond or on the far side, in a family connected with limits and passage.
“went across” in this verse is peran. The verse uses πέραν (peran, “beyond; on the far side”) to place Jesus across the water. The related πέρας (peras, “limit; boundary”) makes the far side legible as a boundary reached, while περάω (perao, “pass through; cross”) echoes the movement across it.
ALSO GROWS
peras: Limit, boundary, or end.
πέρας
This related word gives “the far side” a boundary that can be reached, rather than an absolute stopping point.
perao: To pass through or cross.
περάω
Its shared περα- stem echoes the crossing implicit in placing Jesus beyond the water.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yeshua
GROWS FROM
ישע
The root ישע (y-sh-ʿ) means to deliver or bring out of distress into spaciousness.
“Jesus” in this verse is Yeshua. The name Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ, “deliverance”) carries the nature of bringing someone out into room. Here the name accompanies a literal movement to the far side, giving the crossing an added resonance without erasing its geography.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver or bring to safety.
יָשַׁע
This verb names the delivering action held within the name Yeshua.
yeshuah: Deliverance or rescue.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun makes the name’s nature explicit: the movement out of distress is deliverance.
THE PATTERN
Across scripture, crossing a boundary carries people into the next scene on the far side.
And the children of Israel came into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them, on their right hand and on their left.And the priests who lifted the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood steady on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had finished crossing over Jordan.Straightway he pressed his disciples to step into the boat and go ahead of him to the far side, until he let the crowds go.THE THREAD
The day following, when the people who stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there, except the one his disciples had stepped into, and that Jesus had not stepped into the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone.John uses πέραν (peran, “on the far side”) again in this verse. In 6:1 it marks Jesus’ crossing; here it marks the shore from which the people realize he is gone, holding departure and pursuit together through the same word.
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