What Does John 1:34 Mean in the King James?
And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
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
John’s testimony that Jesus is the Son of God rises from what he has seen: perception becomes witness.
THE MEANING
You meet testimony as something that carries perception into speech. John recognizes Jesus as the Son of God through what he sees, and his declaration bears the weight of that encounter. Seeing and bearing witness remain joined.
THE ROOT
ἑώρακα
heōraka
GROWS FROM
ὁρα- (hora-), from ὁράω (horaō)
to see, perceive
“saw” in this verse is heōraka. The Greek form means “I have seen,” with the seeing carried forward into John’s witness. The word holds perception and recognition together, giving the declaration the shape of something encountered.
ALSO GROWS
horasis: sight, seeing
ὅρασις
It shows the perceptive act beneath John’s identification of Jesus.
horama: that which is seen, a vision
ὅραμα
It keeps the focus on what becomes visible to the perceiver.
μεμαρτύρηκα
memartyrēka
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ- (martyr-), from μαρτυρέω (martureō)
to bear witness, testify
“bare record” in this verse is memartyrēka. The word belongs to the same family as “witness” and “testimony.” English separates the act of seeing from the act of recording, while the verse places perception and its public witness side by side.
ALSO GROWS
martyria: testimony, witness
μαρτυρία
It names the spoken witness that carries John’s perception to others.
martys: a witness, one who testifies
μάρτυς
It shows that John’s “record” is the speech of a witness, not a detached label.
THE PATTERN
Testimony carries what witnesses have encountered into the open.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;For we can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.THE THREAD
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)The seeing and witness verbs in this verse recur in 1 John 1:2, where the writer likewise joins having seen with bearing witness. That verse calls what is seen “the life” manifested, widening this testimony into a declaration about life made visible.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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