What Does John 8:59 Mean?
Then they lifted stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the middle of them, and so passed by.
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 took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.THE KEY
The stones define the crowd’s intent, but concealment opens a way through its midst.
THE MEANING
The threatened one is hidden from violence and still moves through its midst; concealment and passage belong to one movement. Danger fills the sacred place, but it does not determine where the story ends.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being surrounded means every exit is closed. The way out can run through the very midst of the crowd.
THE ROOT
ἐκρύβη
ekrybē
GROWS FROM
κρυπ-/κρυβ-
κρυπ- (krypt-) / κρυβ- (kryb-): hide, conceal; the stem alternates in this form.
“hid himself” in this verse is ekrybē. The verse’s form belongs to the verb for hiding, with the stem appearing as κρυβ- here and κρυπ- in related words. This family names both what is hidden and the act of hiding away, so concealment is part of the movement through danger.
ALSO GROWS
kryptos: hidden, concealed
κρυπτός
This branch names the state produced by the same root: what is hidden from view.
apokryptō: hide away, conceal
ἀποκρύπτω
The compound keeps the same κρυπ- root and makes the act of concealment explicit.
THE PATTERN
A threat may surround the path, yet passage can open through the very place that appears to enclose it.
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.From the narrow place I call out to the LORD, and the LORD answers me in a wide place.When they had gone past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that carries into the city, which swung open for them by itself. They went out and passed through one street, and at once the messenger went away from him.THE THREAD
So they sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.The Greek verb ἐξέρχομαι (exerchomai, “go out”) appears in both verses as ἐξῆλθεν (exēlthen, “went out”). John 10:39 makes explicit the threat that John 8:59 shows through raised stones: those who seek to seize him do not hold him.
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