What Does John 12:10 Mean in the King James?
But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;
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 same life that testifies to resurrection becomes the reason the authorities decide Lazarus must die.
THE MEANING
A living witness can draw people toward what is true and provoke threatened power to seek the witness’s death. Here the chief priests’ shared counsel reaches beyond Jesus to Lazarus, whose restored life has become visible evidence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that evidence always persuades: Lazarus’s life leads many to believe, while the same visible sign prompts others to seek his death.
THE ROOT
συνεβουλεύσαντο
synebouleusanto
GROWS FROM
βουλ-
boul-
Counsel, resolve, or plan.
“consulted” in this verse is synebouleusanto. The Greek verb joins συν- (syn-, together) to βουλ- (boul-, counsel), making the shared deliberation audible. Here that counsel takes the form of a plan aimed at Lazarus’s death.
ALSO GROWS
boulē: Counsel, purpose, or plan.
βουλή
This branch shows counsel as an intention taking shape, as the priests’ deliberation becomes a death plan.
bouleuō: To deliberate, resolve, or plan.
βουλεύω
This verb shares the root and makes the movement from discussion to decision visible in the verse.
symboulos: Counselor or adviser.
σύμβουλος
The shared root links the act of taking counsel to the people who give it; here the counsel is collective and directed toward killing Lazarus.
THE PATTERN
When a witness unsettles power, opposition can become collective and target the witness.
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.THE THREAD
Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.The next verse names why Lazarus is included in the death plan: many believe because of him. His life carries the testimony, and the shared counsel targets the person through whom it is seen.
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