What Does John 19:37 Mean in the King James?
And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
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 wound does not hide the pierced one; it is where every eye is brought to see him.
THE MEANING
You stand before the one who is pierced, with the wound inseparable from the person who bears it. Seeing here means facing him, not receiving a report about him from a distance. The wound remains in view as part of who stands before you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a wound can be made irrelevant by turning away from the one who bears it.
THE ROOT
ἐξεκέντησαν
exekentēsan
GROWS FROM
κεντ- (kent-), in ἐκκεντέω (ekkenteō)
To prick or pierce with a point.
John’s Greek verb gives the wound a pointed, bodily force; the Hebrew wording it quotes is דָּקָרוּ (dāqārû, “they pierced”). The seeing in this verse is directed toward the person who bears that wound.
ALSO GROWS
kenteō: Prick, pierce
κεντέω
This related verb keeps the bodily action of puncturing visible beneath the verse’s word for “pierced.”
kéntron: Sting, goad; a pointed instrument
κέντρον
The same kent- word family links the piercing wound with the point that stings or prods.
ὄψονται
opsontai
GROWS FROM
ὁρα- (hora-), the seeing stem of ὁράω (horaō)
To see, perceive.
“look” in this verse is opsontai. The verse directs perception toward a person, not an idea held at a distance. Its seeing brings the pierced one into view together with the wound that marks him.
ALSO GROWS
hórama: A vision; what is seen
ὅραμα
This branch names something brought into sight, echoing the verse’s focus on seeing the pierced one.
hórasis: Vision, appearance
ὅρασις
This branch keeps seeing connected with what becomes perceptible before the viewer.
THE PATTERN
The wounded one is brought into view, and the wound remains part of what is seen.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.THE THREAD
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.Revelation repeats the same Greek verb ἐξεκέντησαν (exekentēsan, “they pierced”), then sets it beside “every eye shall see him.” John’s single image opens into a universal encounter: the pierced one is the one every eye meets.
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