What Does John 18:11 Mean in the King James?
Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink 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 verse sets a sword raised against another beside a given cup to be drunk: force strikes outward, while the cup is received.
THE MEANING
This verse places two responses before you: a sword raised against another, and a cup received as given and drunk. Jesus does not erase the cost of the cup; he holds it beside Peter’s forceful attempt to stop what is happening.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that force is the only response to danger: Peter is told to put away the sword while Jesus faces the cup given to him.
THE ROOT
πίω
piō
GROWS FROM
πιν-/ποτ-
To drink; to take liquid in.
The verb means to drink; the sense of receiving a portion comes from the verse’s pairing of the cup with what the Father has given. The image makes the cost concrete: Jesus is to drink what has been placed before him.
ALSO GROWS
potērion: Cup; drinking vessel.
ποτήριον
The cup is literally the vessel of drinking, giving the image a tangible shape.
potizō: To give drink; to water.
ποτίζω
The word family can describe giving drink as well as drinking; here, Jesus is the one who drinks.
δέδωκεν
dedōken
GROWS FROM
δο-/δω-
To give or grant.
The cup is not simply present; the verse says it has been given. That wording identifies its source before Jesus names what he will do with it.
ALSO GROWS
dōron: Gift; something given.
δῶρον
It shares the giving-word family and echoes the verse’s emphasis on the cup as given.
dosis: Giving; a gift or grant.
δόσις
It makes the act of giving explicit, illuminating the source named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Across scripture, the cup names a portion received, while drinking expresses taking that portion in.
I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?THE THREAD
But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?The Greek uses the same cup and drinking word family: ποτήριον (potērion, cup) and πιεῖν (piein, to drink). Mark makes explicit what John’s image holds together: the cup is a portion taken in by drinking it.
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