What Does John 9:29 Mean in the King James?

We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

John 9:29 · KJV

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 same mouth can claim to know God’s voice in the past while refusing to see its work in the present.

THE MEANING

You can affirm that God spoke through Moses and still fail to perceive the witness standing before you. Inherited certainty can become a boundary that shuts out what is visible now.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that certainty about God’s past speech guarantees recognition of God’s present work.

THE ROOT

οἴδαμεν

oidamen

GROWS FROM

εἴδω

eidō

To see or perceive; ⁨οἶδα⁩ (oida, “know”) carries the sense of having seen and so knowing.

The same verb is used twice: “we know” that God spoke to Moses, but “we know not” where this man is from. The contrast exposes how a claim of knowledge can affirm a recognized voice while closing itself to what is being seen now.

ALSO GROWS

oida: Know; have seen and so know.

οἶδα

This is the form behind both claims in the verse, showing that the speakers use one word for their certainty and their refusal to recognize the man’s origin.

eidon: Saw.

εἶδον

This form makes the root’s link between seeing and knowing plain, sharpening the gap between what the speakers claim and what they perceive.

eidos: Form, appearance.

εἶδος

This related word names what is seen or perceived, echoing the question of whether visible evidence can be recognized.

THE PATTERN

An inherited claim about God’s voice can coexist with resistance to the witness standing before you.

The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Deuteronomy 18:15 · KJVMoses’ words hold open the possibility of a voice still to come, asking for recognition beyond what is already familiar.

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

Mark 6:3 · KJVFamiliarity with Jesus’ origins becomes a reason to take offense at the person before them.

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

John 5:46 · KJVThe verse links a claim to trust Moses with the question of whether that trust opens recognition of Jesus.

THE THREAD

He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

John 9:25 · KJV

The healed man uses the same verb of knowing, ⁨οἶδα⁩ (oida), but grounds it in what he has seen: he was blind, and now he sees. His certainty is tied to present experience, while the speakers in this verse claim certainty about Moses and deny knowing the man’s origin.

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