What Does John 9:17 Mean in the King James?
They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.
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 opening of his eyes becomes evidence by which he names the one who opened them.
THE MEANING
When what you see changes, the question reaches beyond what happened to who is acting. The man answers from his own encounter: he calls him a prophet. His response shows how a lived change can become a way of naming the one before you.
THE ROOT
ἤνοιξεν
ēnoixen
GROWS FROM
οἴγω
oigō
To open.
The verb family links the opening of eyes with opening the heart and opening understanding. Here the opened eyes are more than a completed physical event: the opening becomes the ground for the man’s recognition of who stands before him.
ALSO GROWS
anoigō: Open.
ἀνοίγω
The same verb appears in John 9:10 when people ask how the man’s eyes were opened, returning the questioning to the act itself.
dianoigō: Open through; open fully.
διανοίγω
In Acts 16:14, this related verb describes the Lord opening Lydia’s heart to attend, carrying the image of opening from eyes to inner attention.
προφήτης
prophētēs
GROWS FROM
φη- (phē-, from φημί)
To say or speak.
The Greek word family keeps speech at the center; a prophet is not only someone associated with foretelling. The man names Jesus through the meaning he sees in the act: the one who opens his eyes belongs to the world of God’s speaking.
ALSO GROWS
phēmi: Say; speak.
φημί
This speech word is the verbal element in the prophet word family, bringing the act of speaking into the man’s answer.
prophēteuō: Prophesy; speak as a prophet.
προφητεύω
This related word names the act associated with a prophet, showing the family’s emphasis on declaring or speaking.
THE PATTERN
When sight opens, perception moves from seeing what changed toward recognizing who is acting.
The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.THE THREAD
Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?The Greek verb for “opened” here is from the same word family as the verb in their earlier question about how his eyes were opened. The inquiry moves from the opening itself to what the man now says about the one who opened them.
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