What Does John 6:50 Mean in the King James?
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
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 bread’s descent reaches its purpose when you take it in: life is received, not watched from a distance.
THE MEANING
The bread that comes from heaven is present as something you can receive, not merely behold. As you take it in, death loses its claim to be the final word over you. The verse presents life as participation in what comes down to you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You are sustained only by what you can secure for yourself, and death has the inevitable final word.
THE ROOT
καταβαίνων
katabainōn
GROWS FROM
βαίνω (bainō, step or go) + κατά (kata, downward)
To step or go, with κατά directing the movement downward.
“cometh down” in this verse is katabainōn. The bread’s movement is part of the meaning: it comes down from heaven to be received here. The same movement seed can point upward, downward, or inward, so the verse’s descent opens into the act of taking the bread in.
ALSO GROWS
anabainō: To go up, ascend
ἀναβαίνω
The same movement verb directed upward makes the downward motion of this bread more vivid.
embainō: To go into, enter
ἐμβαίνω
The same movement seed can describe entering; here, what descends is then taken in.
ἀποθάνῃ
apothanē
GROWS FROM
θνῄσκω (thnēskō, die) + ἀπό (apo, away)
To die; the compound ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnēskō) means to die.
The verse names death directly: eating this bread is bound to the claim that a person does not die. Related words carry the same seed into both death itself and the condition of being mortal.
ALSO GROWS
thanatos: Death
θάνατος
The noun names the death the verse says this bread overcomes.
thnētos: Mortal
θνητός
The related word describes the condition of being subject to death.
THE PATTERN
Life is sustained by receiving and taking in the provision that comes from God.
Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.THE THREAD
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.The phrase “came down” uses the same Greek verb family as “cometh down” here. The next verse identifies the descending bread as living bread and makes explicit what this verse shows through its movement: it is taken in, and it gives life.
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