What Does John 4:21 Mean in the King James?
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
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
Neither mountain nor city can claim the Father as its own: worship is no longer defined by the place where you bow.
THE MEANING
The Father is not confined to a mountain or a city, and your nearness to him does not depend on standing at the right address. Jesus tells you that the hour is coming when neither place will define where you worship the Father. The verse speaks to you now: no sacred location owns your access to him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you must reach the right sacred place to be near the Father dissolves here.
THE ROOT
προσκυνήσετε
proskynēsete
GROWS FROM
προσκυνέω
proskyneō
To bow down or prostrate oneself in homage.
“worship” in this verse is proskynēsete. The Greek word names a posture of homage, not a location. The verse shifts the question from where you bow to the Father to the idea that neither mountain nor city can define that act.
ALSO GROWS
proskynētēs: One who bows down; a worshipper.
προσκυνητής
The same word family names the person who bows, showing that worship and worshipper share one root.
proskynēsis: An act of bowing or homage.
προσκύνησις
This noun preserves the bodily posture inside the English word “worship.”
πίστευσόν
pisteuson
GROWS FROM
πίστις
pistis
Trust, reliance; leaning your full weight on what is trusted.
“believe” in this verse is pisteuson. Jesus frames this claim with an invitation to trust him. The word carries the sense of reliance, so the verse’s change in how worship is understood begins with trusting what he says about the Father.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust or reliance.
πίστις
The related noun makes clear that “believe me” concerns trust, not merely accepting a statement as information.
pistos: Trustworthy, reliable.
πιστός
This branch links trust to the character of the one trusted.
THE PATTERN
The Father is not contained by one sacred place or by a structure made with human hands.
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?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;But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.THE THREAD
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.The same Greek verb for bowing down appears in both verses. Verse 21 says neither place will define worship; verse 23 names the worshippers the Father seeks.
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