What Does John 2:25 Mean in the King James?
And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
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
Jesus does not need a witness to reveal the human interior, because he already knows what is within a person.
THE MEANING
Your inner life is already known to Jesus, even before another person gives testimony about you. His knowing reaches what is within, beyond what can be seen or reported.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what remains unspoken inside you is invisible to Jesus.
THE ROOT
ἐγίνωσκεν
eginōsken
GROWS FROM
γινωσκ-
To know, recognize, or perceive.
“knew” in this verse is eginōsken. The verb belongs to γινώσκω (ginōskō), “know, recognize.” The verse sets this knowing beside human testimony: a witness can report something about a person, but Jesus knows what is within that person.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: Knowledge
γνῶσις
This related noun shows the same word family extending from knowing to knowledge; here, that knowing reaches beyond what a witness can supply.
epiginōskō: Recognize, know fully
ἐπιγινώσκω
This related verb makes recognition explicit, echoing the verse’s picture of a person being known from within.
μαρτυρήσῃ
martyrēsē
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
To bear witness or give testimony.
The verb belongs to μαρτυρέω (martureō), “bear witness, testify.” Its word family names the outward act of reporting, which the verse places beside Jesus’ inward knowing: testimony is unnecessary for him to perceive the human interior.
ALSO GROWS
martyria: Testimony, witness
μαρτυρία
This noun names the report that the verse says Jesus does not need in order to know a person.
martys: Witness
μάρτυς
The witness is someone who can speak about a person; the verse distinguishes that account from Jesus’ knowledge of what is within.
THE PATTERN
The inward person is already visible to divine knowing, even when outward appearances or human testimony fall short.
Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?THE THREAD
Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.Nathanael’s “knowest” is from γινώσκω (ginōskō), “know, recognize,” the same verb family as “knew” here. This verse makes the knowing personal: Jesus recognizes Nathanael before he can explain himself, opening John 2:25 as knowledge that does not depend on another person’s report.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us