What Does John 1:13 Mean in the King James?

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:13 · KJV

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

This birth begins beyond inherited bloodline and human desire: its source is God.

THE MEANING

Your birth from God does not come from family lineage, bodily desire, or another person’s intention. The verse locates its source in God, beyond what human beings can produce or pass down.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the belief that life from God can be secured by ancestry or generated by human desire.

THE ROOT

ἐγεννήθησαν

egennēthēsan

GROWS FROM

⁨γενν-⁩ (⁨γεννάω⁩)

To beget, bring forth, or give birth.

The verse’s “were born” is passive: those named do not beget themselves; they come from a source. After excluding bloodline and human desire, the verse names that source as God.

ALSO GROWS

anagennáō: Beget anew; cause to be born again.

ἀναγεννάω

The phrase “born again” in 1 Peter 1:23 uses this compound of the same birth verb and describes birth from an incorruptible source.

génnēsis: Birth; the act of being born.

γέννησις

This noun makes explicit the birth event carried by the verb, showing that the verse speaks about origin, not a status someone earns.

THE PATTERN

Life that comes from God has its source in God’s begetting, beyond human lineage or self-determination.

Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

Deuteronomy 32:18 · KJVThe verse names God as the one who begets and forms, locating life’s origin in God.

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

James 1:18 · KJVHere God’s own will is the source of the birth, clarifying that human willing is excluded while God’s willing gives life.

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Peter 1:23 · KJVThe birth is traced away from corruptible seed to the living word of God.

THE THREAD

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

John 3:6 · KJV

The same birth verb appears in both verses, and John 3:6 makes the source distinction plain: flesh gives rise to flesh, while what is born of the Spirit belongs to the Spirit. It opens “of God” as the source of this birth, beyond ancestry or human intention.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us