What Does John 4:20 Mean in the King James?
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
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 hidden hinge is that worship means bowing down, so the verse locates the argument in the body’s direction as much as in geography.
THE MEANING
You stand inside inherited claims: one mountain is named here, Jerusalem there, each presented as the place where people must bow. The Greek verb προσκυνέω (proskyneō, to bow down) makes the question bodily as well as geographic: where is the bow directed? The sentence holds these competing claims open without yet resolving them.
THE ROOT
προσεκύνησαν
prosekynēsan
GROWS FROM
προσκυν-
proskyn-
To bow down or prostrate oneself
“worshipped” in this verse is prosekynēsan. The Greek word-family keeps worship tied to a lowered body, in the same bow-down sense expressed by Hebrew שָׁחָה (shachah, to bow down). English “worship” can sound inward and abstract; this verb makes the body’s direction visible, sharpening why this mountain and Jerusalem are disputed here.
ALSO GROWS
proskynētai: Those who bow down; worshipers
προσκυνηταί
John 4:23 uses this noun for the people whose worship is being described, turning the action into an identity.
proskynēsis: The act of bowing down or prostration; worship
προσκύνησις
This related noun names the posture itself, keeping worship grounded in a body’s act of lowering itself.
THE PATTERN
The divine presence exceeds every place people designate as its dwelling.
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;THE THREAD
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.The verse repeats the same act, προσκυνέω (proskyneō, to bow down), then places it “in spirit and in truth.” The question of where the body bows opens into the breath and truth in which that bowing happens.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us