What Does John 3:14 Mean in the King James?
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
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 “lifting up” is both the cross made visible and the Son of Man’s exaltation: one Greek verb holds both meanings together.
THE MEANING
The verse places you before a sign of death raised into view, then says the Son of Man must be lifted in the same way. Its Greek verb carries both physical raising and exaltation, so exposure and elevation meet in one image. Death is not hidden here; it is raised into view as the place from which life opens.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that public humiliation can only mean defeat: here, the same lifting is also exaltation.
THE ROOT
ὑψωθῆναι
hypsōthēnai
GROWS FROM
ὑψόω
hypsóō
To raise high; to exalt.
“lifted up” in this verse is hypsōthēnai. The verb holds a physical raising and an elevation in honor within the same word. English can make the cross sound like humiliation alone, but John’s word lets the lifting carry both exposure and exaltation.
ALSO GROWS
hypsóō: To raise high; to exalt.
ὑψόω
This same verb describes the Son of Man being lifted in John 8:28 and John 12:32, where the raising also reveals and draws.
hypsos: Height; a high place.
ὕψος
This related word makes the upward movement audible: the verse’s lifting carries both the physical sense of height and the sense of exaltation.
THE PATTERN
What is raised into view can become the point where life, recognition, and gathering begin.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.THE THREAD
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.John repeats the same verb, ὑψόω (hypsóō), for being lifted up. Here the word’s double sense meets its result: the one raised from the earth draws people toward him.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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