What Does John 14:3 Mean in the King James?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
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 destination is not merely a place prepared for you; it is the speaker receiving you into his own presence.
THE MEANING
You are held inside a promise whose movement ends in shared presence: he goes, prepares, comes, and receives you to himself. The place matters because you are there with him; belonging, not geography, is the center of the promise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that his going means your abandonment: the departure in the verse is held within a promise of return and reception.
THE ROOT
παραλήμψομαι
paralēmpsomai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω (lambanō), joined to παρά (para)
λαμβάνω (lambanō) means “take” or “receive”; παρά (para) means “beside” or “alongside.” Together they form παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō), “take along” or “receive to oneself.”
The verb translated “receive” carries the sense of taking you alongside, into the speaker’s own company. English can make receiving sound like acceptance at a distance; this Greek compound makes nearness part of the action.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: take, receive
λαμβάνω
The base verb shows that the promised welcome is an act of taking or receiving.
metalambanō: partake, receive a share
μεταλαμβάνω
This related compound shows how receiving can open into sharing in what is given.
apolambanō: receive, receive back
ἀπολαμβάνω
This related compound keeps the focus on someone being brought into what they receive.
THE PATTERN
The promised end of separation is being with God in his dwelling.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.THE THREAD
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.The previous verse names the Father’s house and its many dwelling places; this verse turns that prepared place into a promise of personal reception. Together, they show that the destination is belonging in the speaker’s own presence.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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