What Does John 2:9 Mean in the King James?
When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
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 feast’s ruler tastes the change without knowing where it began; the servants who drew the water know its starting point.
THE MEANING
You can encounter a changed thing without knowing where it began. The feast’s ruler tastes what the water has become, while the servants know its starting point because they drew it. The verse places knowledge in direct contact with the transformation, not in rank.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that authority over a result means knowing its origin.
THE ROOT
ᾔδει
ēdei
GROWS FROM
οἶδα, related to εἴδω (eídō; ἰδ-)
To see or perceive; οἶδα carries the sense of knowing as what has been seen.
“knew / knew not” in this verse is ēdei. The same verb marks both the ruler’s lack of knowledge and the servants’ knowledge. The verse makes their difference one of access to the water, not status.
ALSO GROWS
eîdon: Saw; a form related to εἴδω.
εἶδον
It brings out the seeing beneath the verse’s word for knowing.
eîdos: Form or appearance.
εἶδος
This related word names what can be perceived, echoing the servants’ closeness to the water’s changed state.
γεγενημένον
gegenēmenon
GROWS FROM
γίνομαι (ginomai), γεν-
To become, come into being, or happen.
“was made” in this verse is gegenēmenon. The Greek describes the water as having become wine. The verse places this changed state beside the ruler’s question of origin: he tastes what has come to be but does not know where it came from.
ALSO GROWS
génesis: Birth or coming into being.
γένεσις
It shares the root of becoming and makes the language of change audible.
génos: Kind, family, or stock.
γένος
It carries the root into what comes forth as a kind or lineage.
ἠντληκότες
ēntlēkotes
GROWS FROM
ἀντλέω (antleō), ἀντλ-
To draw water up, especially from a well.
“drew” in this verse is ēntlēkotes. The servants’ knowledge is attached to the act of drawing: they have handled the water before it is tasted as wine. The same word family returns when John’s Samaritan woman asks about drawing water from a well.
ALSO GROWS
antleîn: To draw up water.
ἀντλεῖν
This infinitive form appears in John 4:7, where a woman comes to draw water.
ántlēma: A drawing vessel or bucket.
ἄντλημα
In John 4:11, the woman points to the vessel she lacks, extending the same drawing image.
THE PATTERN
Direct encounter gives a kind of knowing that report or authority alone cannot supply.
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.For we can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.THE THREAD
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?John uses the same word family for drawing water here and when describing the servants who drew the water at Cana. In Cana, the drawers know the water’s starting point; here, the question of how to draw water opens into a question about the source of living water.
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