What Does John 17:20 Mean in the King James?
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
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 prayer’s circle keeps widening through witness: one person’s word becomes another person’s trust.
THE MEANING
This prayer reaches beyond its first circle to everyone who comes to trust through the word carried by witnesses. Trust here moves from person to person through what they speak about Jesus.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that trust only counts when it comes from a private, direct encounter falls away: this verse includes those who come to trust through another person’s word.
THE ROOT
πιστεύειν
pisteuein
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, reliance; the firmness of placing confidence in someone.
The phrase translated “believe on me” uses trust directed toward Jesus, not merely agreement with an idea. The same word family holds both the act of trusting and the quality of being reliable, so belief here carries the sense of leaning one’s confidence upon him.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, confidence
πίστις
This is the related noun for the trust that comes through the witnesses’ word.
pistos: Firm, steady, reliable
πιστός
This branch shows the firmness at the heart of trust: reliance rests on what is steady.
λόγος
logos
GROWS FROM
λεγ- / λογ- (leg- / log-)
To say or speak; a spoken account or message.
“Their word” is not just a single spoken term; logos can name a message or account carried from one person to another. The verse joins that spoken witness to trust: the message travels, and new trust takes root through it.
ALSO GROWS
legō: Say, speak
λέγω
The verbal family keeps the message grounded in what witnesses say and pass on.
logion: Saying, oracle
λόγιον
This related word shows how a received saying can be carried beyond its first hearers.
THE PATTERN
Trust spreads as received testimony passes from speaker to hearer.
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.THE THREAD
For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.John 17:8 uses the same Greek trust word: the disciples receive the words, then trust that Jesus was sent. Here, that received witness keeps moving outward, bringing more people into trust.
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