What Does John 10:14 Mean in the King James?
I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
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
The shepherd knows his own, and his own know him: the bond is recognition in both directions.
THE MEANING
You are not hidden inside an anonymous flock: the shepherd’s care recognizes you personally, and your recognition is part of the bond. This is a relationship of shared knowing, not distant oversight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the fear that the shepherd’s care is anonymous: the sheep are personally recognized, and their recognition is returned.
THE ROOT
γινώσκω
ginōskō
GROWS FROM
γνω-
gnō-
To come to know or recognize; the same knowing verb describes the shepherd’s relation to his own and theirs to him.
English can make “know” sound like information held by one side, but the Greek uses the same knowing verb in both directions. The bond is mutual recognition: care here is personal, and recognition is returned.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: Knowledge; the act or result of knowing.
γνῶσις
This branch keeps the verse’s knowing relational: it is more than a label attached to the sheep.
gnōstos: Known, familiar, or recognized.
γνωστός
It echoes the sheep being known as the shepherd’s own, carrying recognition as part of belonging.
epiginōskō: To recognize or come to know.
ἐπιγινώσκω
This related form shows the same root continuing to express recognition and encounter.
THE PATTERN
The shepherd’s care takes the form of personal recognition that moves in both directions.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.THE THREAD
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.The same Greek knowing family returns here: knowing and being known meet face to face. That echo opens the shepherd’s mutual recognition into a fuller image of encounter.
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