What Does John 6:2 Mean?
And a great crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he did for the ones without strength.
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 a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.THE KEY
The miracles are signs: what happens to the weakened points beyond the act to the one acting.
THE MEANING
Following begins in what is seen: the signs become visible in what happens to those with diminished strength. Jesus’ action upon the weakened makes something more than spectacle perceptible, the act points toward the one acting. The verse shows a movement from observation to following.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A visible wonder is only an event with no direction; the word here also means a sign, something that points.
THE ROOT
σημεῖα
sēmeia
GROWS FROM
σημ-
sēm-
A sign or mark that indicates something.
The Greek word translated “miracles” is sēmeia, signs or markers. Its word family includes σῆμα (sēma), a sign or mark, and σημαίνω (sēmainō), to signify or indicate: the act is not only astonishing, it points. Here, its direction is visible in what Jesus does upon the weakened.
ALSO GROWS
sēma: Sign, mark, or token.
σῆμα
This related word shows the shared idea of a mark that makes something known; the deeds Jesus performs function as signs.
sēmainō: To signify, indicate, or make known by a sign.
σημαίνω
It carries the movement from a visible act to what that act indicates about the one acting.
ἀσθενούντων
asthenountōn
GROWS FROM
ἀ- + σθένος (a- + sthenos)
Without strength; weakened.
The word rendered “diseased” comes from astheneō, to be weak or without strength, formed from ἀ- (a-, “without”) and σθένος (sthenos, “strength”). English names a condition; the Greek also lets you see the weakened ones as the very place where the sign becomes visible.
ALSO GROWS
asthenēs: Weak or without strength.
ἀσθενής
This adjective makes explicit the weakness already present in the word used for those Jesus acts upon.
astheneia: Weakness or infirmity.
ἀσθένεια
This noun names the weakened condition that gives the sign its visible setting.
THE PATTERN
A sign is a visible act that directs the observer toward the one whose action it reveals.
And it shall come to pass, if they will not lean their weight on you, nor hear and respond to the voice of the first sign, that they will lean their weight on the voice of the latter sign.This beginning of signs Jesus made in Cana of Galilee, and he brought his weight into the light, and his disciples leaned their weight on him.And truly Jesus did many other signs before the eyes of his disciples, which are not written in this book.THE THREAD
And truly Jesus did many other signs before the eyes of his disciples, which are not written in this book.John uses the same Greek word family: sēmeia, signs. In John 6:2, the sign is seen in what Jesus does upon the weakened; here, those visible acts are named as signs that direct attention toward Jesus.
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