What Does John 6:67 Mean in the King James?
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
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
Jesus asks whether the twelve want to leave, making their allegiance a choice measured by where they themselves desire to go.
THE MEANING
The question is alive wherever belonging stops feeling automatic. Jesus names leaving plainly and leaves the answer with the hearer. The next reply makes the pressure point clear: the question is not only whether you leave, but where you can go for life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being counted among the twelve does not settle the answer; Jesus asks for their own willing response.
THE ROOT
θέλετε
thélete
GROWS FROM
θέλω
thelō
Want, wish, or be willing.
The Greek asks whether they want to depart, not merely whether they will go at some future point. The same verb appears when Jesus says, “ye will not come to me” (John 5:40), while the related noun for will appears in John 6:40; the passage places human willingness beside the Father’s life-giving purpose.
ALSO GROWS
thelēma: Will, desire
θέλημα
John 6:40 uses this related noun for the Father’s will; here the question turns to what the disciples themselves want.
ou thélete elthein: You do not want to come
οὐ θέλετε ἐλθεῖν
John 5:40 uses the same verb with come; here Jesus asks whether the disciples want to go away.
ὑπάγειν
hypágein
GROWS FROM
ἄγω
ágō
Lead, bring, or conduct; ὑπάγω is commonly used to mean go or depart.
“go away” in this verse is hypágein. The verb means to depart, while its word family includes compounds that lead in different directions. English conveys the leaving but hides this wider pattern of movement: the question concerns departure from the path and company the twelve have shared.
ALSO GROWS
synágō: Gather together, collect
συνάγω
This compound from the same root names movement toward gathering, clarifying the directional contrast with going away.
apágō: Lead away, take away
ἀπάγω
This compound makes the away-direction explicit and illuminates the departure Jesus asks about.
THE PATTERN
Allegiance becomes visible when departure remains possible and a person must choose whom to follow.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.THE THREAD
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.Peter shifts the question from departure to destination: “to whom shall we go?” His answer does not erase the possibility of leaving; it names the one whose words hold the life of the ages.
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