What Does John 12:4 Mean in the King James?
Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,
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 for betrayal also means handing over, making the wound a concrete transfer of Jesus into another’s power.
THE MEANING
Closeness and harm can occupy the same relationship: Judas is named among the disciples and as the one about to hand Jesus over. Betrayal here is a transfer of Jesus into another’s power. The verse holds the trusted insider and the painful act together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that closeness to Jesus, or a place among his disciples, automatically guarantees fidelity.
THE ROOT
παραδιδόναι
paradidonai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or hand over.
Alongside the relational force of “betray,” this verb carries the concrete action of handing Jesus over into another’s hands. The root for giving keeps that action visible beneath the English wording.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: A giving; what is given.
δόσις
This noun makes the act of giving explicit, illuminating the handing-over contained in the verse’s verb.
dotēs: A giver.
δότης
This word names the person who gives, keeping the agent of an act of handing-over in view.
THE PATTERN
Scripture shows betrayal as a breach that can come from inside intimacy, where someone near enough to be trusted turns against another.
Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.THE THREAD
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?The Greek verb rendered “betray” in John 12:4 is the same verb rendered “delivered him up” here, rooted in δίδωμι (didōmi), meaning “to give.” The shared action word does not equate Judas’s and God’s motives; it makes the act of handing Jesus over the visible link.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us