What Does John 20:2 Mean in the King James?

Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

John 20:2 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The word translated “laid” is the same verb Jesus uses for laying down his own life, so the question about location quietly carries a claim about agency.

THE MEANING

You can be certain that someone is gone and still not know what that absence means. The loss feels settled, but the location and agency remain unknown.

THE ROOT

ἔθηκαν

ethēkan

GROWS FROM

τίθημι

tithēmi

to put, place, or set; to lay down

“laid” in this verse is ethēkan. The verb does more than indicate a body’s location: ⁨τίθημι⁩ means to put or place, and the same verb describes Jesus laying down his life in John 10:18. Its range lets the line hold both a physical placement and the possibility of chosen agency.

ALSO GROWS

epitithēmi: to put or lay upon

ἐπιτίθημι

This compound keeps the root’s sense of placing, making the act of laying him somewhere concrete.

apotithēmi: to put away or lay aside

ἀποτίθημι

Here placement can also mean setting something aside, showing how the root reaches beyond simple location.

ἦραν

ēran

GROWS FROM

αἴρω

airō

to lift, take up, carry, or remove

“taken” in this verse is ēran. The verb can mean lifting or carrying as well as taking away. Its other uses include taking up a bed and taking away sin, connecting removal with lifting or bearing in a way the English phrase can flatten.

ALSO GROWS

aron: take up; carry

ἆρον

In John 5:8 the same verb tells someone to take up a bed, showing that taking away can involve carrying something.

airei: lifts; takes away

αἴρει

In John 1:29 the verb describes taking away sin, extending the same root from physical removal to bearing something away.

THE PATTERN

When someone is absent, the first question is often where they are, before the meaning of the absence becomes clear.

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Genesis 3:9 · KJVThe question seeks the hidden person by location while the reason for the absence remains open.

I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

Song of Solomon 3:2 · KJVThe search moves through streets because a beloved absence first becomes a question of where to find him.

And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

John 11:34 · KJVThe question asks for the place of the missing body, making location the first language of absence.

THE THREAD

No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

John 10:18 · KJV

The verb behind “laid” is ⁨τίθημι⁩ (tithēmi), meaning to put or lay; it is the same verb Jesus uses here for laying down his life. That shared root gives placement a deeper dimension of agency alongside the question of where the body is.

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