What Does John 6:17 Mean in the King James?
And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them.
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
Darkness is already here, while Jesus’ arrival is still pending: the verse marks an interval, not an ending.
THE MEANING
Some moments hold a hard fact and an unfinished one together: darkness is present, and the arrival you wait for has not happened yet. “Not yet” names the timing of absence; it does not itself pronounce abandonment. The crossing remains in motion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A delay is proof that I have been abandoned.
THE ROOT
σκοτία
skotia
GROWS FROM
σκοτ-
skot-
darkness, gloom, obscurity
“dark” in this verse is skotia. The Greek word belongs to a family that includes both darkness and the act of darkening, giving the night a concrete place in the scene. Here it has already settled, even as Jesus’ arrival remains pending.
ALSO GROWS
skotos: darkness
σκότος
The related noun appears in John’s image of light shining within darkness, linking this night to a wider image in the Gospel.
skotizō: to darken
σκοτίζω
This verb shows the same word-family describing darkness as a condition that comes over something.
ἐληλύθει
elēlythei
GROWS FROM
ἐρχ-/ἐλυθ- (erch-/elyth-)
to come or go; to arrive
“was not come” in this verse is elēlythei. The phrase says “not yet” of Jesus’ arrival: it identifies what has not happened at this point, without saying it will never happen. Darkness is present; the coming remains pending.
ALSO GROWS
eiserchomai: to enter, come in
εἰσέρχομαι
This compound carries the same coming-motion inward, giving arrival the sense of entering a place.
exerchomai: to go out, depart
ἐξέρχομαι
This compound carries the same motion outward, showing how the verb-family can describe movement both toward and away.
THE PATTERN
Darkness can be fully present without becoming the final condition of the story.
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.THE THREAD
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.The same Greek noun, σκοτία (skotia, “darkness”), appears in both verses. John 6:17 names darkness as the present setting; John 1:5 shows light shining within that same darkness, so the condition is real without becoming the whole scene.
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