What Does John 5:25 Mean in the King James?
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
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 dead are not beyond reach: the voice finds them, and hearing becomes the passage into life.
THE MEANING
The voice reaches those called dead, and hearing it opens into life. The hour is both coming and already present, so this movement is alive now. Deadness is not beyond the reach of the voice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that deadness makes someone unreachable is undone here: the voice reaches the dead, and those who hear live.
THE ROOT
ἀκούσουσιν
akousousin akousantes
GROWS FROM
ἀκούω
to hear, listen, take in
The verse uses forms of ἀκούω (akouō, hear) twice: first the dead will hear, then those who have heard will live. The repeated root makes hearing the hinge in the movement from deadness to life.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: hearing; a report or message heard
ἀκοή
This noun shares the root and shows hearing as both reception and what is heard.
hypakouō: to listen under; to obey or heed
ὑπακούω
This branch shows how hearing can extend into a responsive act.
eisakouō: to listen to; to hear favorably
εἰσακούω
This branch carries hearing toward attentive reception, echoing the voice that reaches the dead.
ζήσουσιν
zēsousin
GROWS FROM
ζάω
to live, be alive
“live” in this verse is zēsousin. The verb names life as an event that follows hearing, not merely an abstract condition. Its word-family includes ζωή (zōē, life) and ζωοποιέω (zōopoieō, make alive), giving the verse a movement from hearing to living.
ALSO GROWS
zōē: life
ζωή
This noun names the life that is opened by hearing the voice.
zōopoieō: make alive, give life
ζωοποιέω
This branch makes explicit the life-giving movement that the verse describes.
THE PATTERN
A word that reaches the hearer can carry life across the boundary of death.
Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.THE THREAD
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.The noun translated “hearing” is ἀκοή (akoē, hearing), from the same Greek word-family as ἀκούω (akouō, hear) in John 5:25. Here hearing is the opening through which trust comes; in John, it is the opening through which life comes.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us