What Does John 11:38 Mean in the King James?
Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
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 word translated “groaning” is also used for stern charges and angry protest, so Jesus comes to the grave with a forceful response to death.
THE MEANING
When loss stands before you like a sealed place, this verse holds the stone in view and Jesus moving toward it. His groan carries forceful inward indignation as he comes near the tomb. The grave is present, but it does not stop his approach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that what has been sealed is beyond the reach of life. Jesus comes to the stone while it still covers the tomb.
THE ROOT
ἐμβριμώμενος
embrimōmenos
GROWS FROM
ἐμβριμάομαι
embrimaomai
To snort with force; to express deep indignation.
English “groaning” can sound like grief alone, but this verb also carries forceful indignation and can describe a stern charge or protest. The verse places that force within Jesus as he approaches the tomb: death meets a response that resists its claim of finality.
ALSO GROWS
enebrimēsato: Sternly charged (Matthew 9:30).
ἐνεβριμήσατο
The same verb is rendered “straitly charged” here, revealing the force carried by Jesus’ groan.
enebrimōnto: Murmured angrily (Mark 14:5).
ἐνεβριμῶντο
This rendering shows the verb’s edge of protest, a forceful response rather than a quiet sigh.
μνημεῖον
mnēmeion
GROWS FROM
μνη-/μνα- (mnē-/mna-)
Remember; keep in mind. The Greek word for a tomb belongs to the family of remembrance.
English “grave” gives the place of burial, while μνημεῖον also carries the sense of a memorial. The cave is a place where the dead are remembered, and Jesus stands before it with the stone still in place.
ALSO GROWS
mnēmē: Memory; remembrance.
μνήμη
This family of words connects the tomb with the act of holding someone in remembrance.
mnēmoneuō: Remember; call to mind.
μνημονεύω
The same word family joins the grave to remembering, not only to burial.
THE PATTERN
A grave’s enclosure is real, yet it does not define the reach of life.
Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.THE THREAD
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,The same verb ἐμβριμάομαι (embrimaomai, to express forceful indignation) appears in both verses: the first groan rises amid the weeping, and the second carries that response to the tomb. John 11:33 places the groan “in the spirit” (πνεῦμα, pneuma, breath), locating this forceful response within the living breath.
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