What Does John 10:23 Mean in the King James?
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
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
“Temple” here means the larger temple precinct, placing Jesus in its shared colonnade rather than the inner sanctuary.
THE MEANING
The verse places you in sacred space open to movement: Jesus walks through the temple precinct, in Solomon’s colonnade. The encounter takes place along a passage where people can gather, not only at a hidden center.
THE ROOT
ἱερῷ
hierō
GROWS FROM
ἱερ-
hier-
Sacred; belonging to sacred things.
The word here is ἱερόν (hieron, temple precinct), which can refer to the larger temple grounds; Greek also has ναός (naos, inner sanctuary) for the more bounded sacred space. Solomon’s porch is a covered colonnade within that larger precinct, so the scene unfolds in a shared passage.
ALSO GROWS
hiereus: Priest.
ἱερεύς
This related word names a person serving within the sacred order, joining the precinct’s root family to its service.
hierateia: Priesthood.
ἱερατεία
This word for priestly service shows the same sacred root reaching from place to the practices carried out within it.
περιεπάτει
periepatei
GROWS FROM
πατέω
pateō
To tread, step, or walk.
“walked” in this verse is periepatei. Here the verb describes literal movement through a named colonnade; elsewhere, “walk” can also describe a way of life. Its shared footstep root can describe walking about or trampling depending on the compound, keeping bodily movement beneath the scene.
ALSO GROWS
peripateō: To walk about or go about.
περιπατέω
This is the verb’s underlying form, making the movement through Solomon’s porch concrete.
katapateō: To tread down or trample.
καταπατέω
The same footstep root shifts from ordinary walking to forceful treading when the compound changes.
THE PATTERN
The temple’s courts become places where sacred presence is met amid shared life.
For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.THE THREAD
And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.John locates Jesus in Solomon’s porch; Acts names that same colonnade as the place where people gather around a healed man. The public passage becomes a shared space of movement and encounter.
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