What Does John 13:25 Mean in the King James?
He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is 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 disciple’s question comes from a body settled against Jesus, so intimacy here includes the unanswered question.
THE MEANING
You can be close and still ask what you do not yet know: the disciple rests against Jesus and asks, “Lord, who is it?” Nearness holds uncertainty without erasing it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that uncertainty means distance: the disciple is physically close to Jesus and still asks for what he does not know.
THE ROOT
ἀναπεσὼν
anapesōn
GROWS FROM
πιπτ- (pipt-), from πίπτω (píptō)
To fall; with ἀνά, the compound can mean to recline or lean back.
The Greek verb gives the KJV’s “lying” a sense of movement: the disciple settles back against Jesus. The question comes from a posture of bodily closeness, not from across a distance.
ALSO GROWS
anapiptō: Recline, lie back at table.
ἀναπίπτω
This is the verb behind the disciple’s posture; it makes the closeness a physical settling against Jesus.
prospiptō: Fall upon or fall before.
προσπίπτω
This related compound keeps the shared stem’s sense of physical movement, showing how its prefix shapes the direction of the falling.
κύριε
kyrie
GROWS FROM
κυρι- (kyri-), from κύριος (kyrios)
Lordship and authority.
The disciple addresses Jesus as Lord while resting against him and asking a question he cannot answer alone. The title of authority and the closeness of the question occupy the same moment.
ALSO GROWS
kyriotēs: Lordship, dominion.
κυριότης
This related noun makes the authority carried by “Lord” more visible.
kyrieuō: Rule over, exercise lordship.
κυριεύω
This verb shares the stem of “Lord,” giving the title an active sense of authority.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses the bosom as an image of nearness that holds, carries, and reveals.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?THE THREAD
Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?“Breast” translates the same Greek noun, στῆθος (stēthos), in both verses. The repeated image places the disciple’s questions about betrayal within the same bodily closeness to Jesus.
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