What Does John 18:2 Mean in the King James?
And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.
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
Betrayal here is a handover made possible by intimate knowledge of a place where shared life repeatedly gathers.
THE MEANING
Judas knows the place where Jesus regularly gathers with his disciples, and that familiarity becomes the route by which Jesus is handed over. The place that holds repeated closeness also holds the possibility of exposure; the verse keeps both realities visible at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that shared closeness guarantees safety: familiarity can provide the knowledge betrayal uses.
THE ROOT
παραδιδοὺς
paradidoús
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give; in compounds, to hand something over into another’s keeping.
The Greek verb behind “betrayed” is built on “give”: Judas is the one who hands Jesus over. This root also forms words for handing down and sharing, revealing betrayal as an act of transfer whose force comes from whom, and what, is placed in other hands.
ALSO GROWS
parádosis: Handing over; tradition
παράδοσις
From the same give-and-hand-over family, it shows how something passed into another’s hands can also be handed down.
metadidōmi: To share, impart, give a portion
μεταδίδωμι
This compound uses the same root for giving; the act of handing over can carry very different meanings depending on what is given and to whom.
συνήχθη
synēchthē
GROWS FROM
ἄγω
agō
To lead, bring, or gather.
The word translated “resorted” is a form meaning “gathered together”: Jesus repeatedly meets his disciples there. The same root family forms a word for leading someone away, so the place of their gathering becomes the place from which he is taken.
ALSO GROWS
synagōgē: Assembly, gathering
συναγωγή
This word for an assembly shares the gather-together form built on the same root.
apágō: To lead away, carry off
ἀπάγω
With a different prefix, the same root describes leading someone away, echoing what happens after this familiar gathering.
יֵשׁוּעַ
Yēshūaʿ
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁע
yāshaʿ
To deliver, bringing out of constriction into spaciousness.
Jesus’ Hebrew name is Yeshua, from the root of deliverance. The name stands beside the act of handing him over: the violence remains fully present, while the name still carries the movement out of constriction.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuʿah: Deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun grows from the same deliverance root carried in the name Yeshua.
mōshiaʿ: Deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This word names one who delivers and shares the root consonants י־ש־ע with Yeshua.
THE PATTERN
Betrayal turns access gained through intimacy into a route for exposure.
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.THE THREAD
When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.Both verses use παραδίδωμι (paradídōmi), to hand over. John 13 names the act; John 18 shows one of its mechanisms: Judas knows the place of their repeated gathering.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us