What Does John 9:38 Mean in the King James?
And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
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 word translated “worshipped” means he bowed down: opened sight becomes a bodily act of recognition.
THE MEANING
Trust here is more than agreement; it is the whole self leaning on the one recognized as Lord. The man’s opened sight becomes recognition, and that recognition takes bodily form in his bow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that belief is only an inward opinion: here, trust moves into the body as a bow.
THE ROOT
πιστεύω
pisteuō
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, reliance, and placing confidence in someone.
The man’s “I believe” carries the sense of trust and reliance, not just accepting a proposition. This word family also describes what is firm and reliable, so his trust rests on the one he recognizes as trustworthy.
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, reliance; often translated “faith.”
πίστις
It shows that belief belongs to a relationship of reliance, not merely to an idea held in the mind.
pistos: Reliable, trustworthy, firm.
πιστός
It gives trust a ground: the one trusted is understood as someone on whom a person can lean.
προσκυνέω
proskyneō
GROWS FROM
προσκυν-
proskyn-
To bow down before someone, prostrate oneself, or do homage.
“worshipped” in this verse is proskyneō. The verb names a bodily bow, so the man’s response is visible rather than only inward. His trust takes the shape of a posture before the one he now sees.
ALSO GROWS
proskynēsis: Bowing down, obeisance, or homage.
προσκύνησις
This related noun makes clear that the word family centers on the act of reverence expressed in his bow.
proskynētēs: One who bows down; a worshipper.
προσκυνητής
John uses this related word for worshippers in John 4:23, connecting this man’s embodied response with the Gospel’s wider language of worship.
THE PATTERN
Across scripture, encounter becomes visible in the body’s act of bowing.
And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD.And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.THE THREAD
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.John uses the same Greek word family for “worshipped” here and for “worshippers” and “worship” in this verse. The connection opens the man’s bow as a visible expression of the worship John describes.
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