What Does John 10:9 Mean in the King James?
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
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
Deliverance here opens into free movement and nourishment: the door leads to a life you can enter, leave, and be fed in.
THE MEANING
The verse places your life at an open threshold: entering through him means deliverance, movement in both directions, and nourishment. You are not only brought out of danger; you also find a place to be fed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that safety means being shut in: this deliverance includes going in and out and finding pasture.
THE ROOT
σωθήσεται
sōthēsetai
GROWS FROM
σωζ- (sōz-, the stem of σῴζω)
To rescue, preserve, or bring to safety; here, “will be delivered.”
The word translated “saved” carries the sense of being brought through danger into safety. In this verse, that deliverance opens into movement and pasture: safety has room to move and a place to be fed.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēria: deliverance, rescue
σωτηρία
This related word names the rescue that the verse depicts as entry through the door.
sōtēr: deliverer, rescuer
σωτήρ
This related word names the one who delivers, echoing the verse’s personal image of the door.
νομή
nomē
GROWS FROM
νεμ- (nem-, from νέμω)
To pasture or feed; also to allot or distribute.
Pasture is not simply open land; the word points to a place of feeding. Its root also carries the sense of allotting or distributing, so the image is of nourishment made available to be received.
ALSO GROWS
nemō: to pasture, feed, allot, or distribute
νέμω
The verb makes pasture an active provision: a place where feeding happens.
nomos: instruction, law, custom; traditionally linked with what is allotted
νόμος
This related word preserves the sense of something assigned or provided, adding depth to pasture as a share of nourishment.
THE PATTERN
The shepherd’s care brings the vulnerable into safety, free movement, and nourishment.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.THE THREAD
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.The word translated “saved” in both verses comes from the same Greek verb for rescuing and bringing to safety. John 3:17 names the deliverance; John 10:9 shows its shape: entry, free movement, and nourishment.
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