What Does John 20:18 Mean in the King James?
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
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 Greek preserves Mary’s own words, “I have seen”, so her encounter itself becomes the message she carries.
THE MEANING
You see perception move into shared speech: Mary carries what she has seen and what has been spoken to her into the disciples’ room. Her report remains personal at its source even as others hear it.
THE ROOT
ἑώρακα
heōraka
GROWS FROM
ὁράω
horaō
To see, perceive.
The Greek keeps Mary’s testimony in the first person: “I have seen.” Its perfect form presents a completed sight whose force remains in her announcement; she carries the encounter itself, not merely a conclusion about it.
ALSO GROWS
horama: Vision; that which is seen.
ὅραμα
This branch names what is perceived, keeping Mary’s announcement anchored in seeing.
horasis: Sight; vision.
ὅρασις
This related word keeps the act of seeing connected to perception rather than to a claim received secondhand.
ἀγγέλλουσα
angellousa
GROWS FROM
ἀγγέλλω
angellō
To announce, report.
“told” in this verse is angellousa. The Greek says Mary comes announcing, joining her arrival and her message in one motion. The same root appears in the word for messenger: she is the one who carries the news.
ALSO GROWS
angelos: Messenger.
ἄγγελος
This branch shows the shared root’s connection between announcing and carrying a message.
angelia: Message; report.
ἀγγελία
Mary’s personal encounter becomes a message she brings to others.
THE PATTERN
Encounter becomes testimony when the one who sees carries it into speech.
Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.For we can not but speak the things which we have seen and heard.THE THREAD
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;Both verses draw on ὁράω (horaō, “see, perceive”): Mary’s “I have seen” meets the letter’s “we have seen.” Her singular report opens into a shared witness, carrying the same sight from one person’s testimony into a community’s speech.
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