What Does 2 John 1:2 Mean in the King James?
For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Truth is not a fact you visit; it is a reality that takes up residence within you and reaches with you into the age.
THE MEANING
Truth is alive within you, and its presence extends beyond this moment. It is not only something you understand; it is also with you as you move through the ages.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that truth exists only outside you as information you must keep retrieving: the verse describes it as already dwelling within you and remaining with you.
THE ROOT
μένουσαν
menousan
GROWS FROM
μένω
menō
To stay, remain, or continue.
“dwelleth” in this verse is menousan. English gives you a picture of dwelling within, while μένω (menō), the Greek verb for staying or remaining, makes that an ongoing presence rather than a passing visit. The verse then carries this inwardly abiding truth forward as something that is with you.
ALSO GROWS
monē: Dwelling place, abode.
μονή
The related noun makes the root’s sense of staying concrete: what remains can become a home.
epimenō: Remain in, persist.
ἐπιμένω
This compound intensifies the same staying, echoing the verse’s picture of truth that does not depart.
ἀλήθειαν
alētheian
GROWS FROM
ἀληθ-
alēth-
Truth; what is true or real. The word’s formation is often heard as carrying the sense of what is unhidden or disclosed.
The Greek word-family includes both what is true and the act of speaking truth, so truth is more than a correct statement. Here it names a reality that dwells within you, rather than information kept at a distance.
ALSO GROWS
alēthēs: True, genuine.
ἀληθής
This branch names what is real, the quality of the truth that dwells within.
alētheuō: Speak or act truthfully.
ἀληθεύω
The same word-family moves from truth as reality to truth expressed in speech and action.
αἰῶνα
aiōna
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
An age, era, or span of time.
The Greek phrase is literally “into the age,” giving the KJV’s “for ever” an age-wide horizon. Beside the language of remaining, it pictures truth’s presence extending forward through the ages.
ALSO GROWS
aiōnios: Age-related; lasting for an age.
αἰώνιος
This adjective carries the same age-language into descriptions of what belongs to or lasts through an age.
aiōnes: Ages.
αἰῶνες
The plural gives the verse’s horizon a sequence of ages, emphasizing the reach of what remains.
THE PATTERN
What is received inwardly as truth becomes a presence that dwells within rather than a message that merely passes through.
Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.THE THREAD
Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.The Greek verb μένω (menō), meaning “stay” or “remain,” stands behind “dwelleth” in 2 John and “abide,” “remain,” and “continue” here. The staying becomes reciprocal: what remains in you is joined to your remaining in the Son and the Father.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us