What Does Mark 14:20 Mean in the King James?
And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.
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 betrayer is not outside Jesus’ circle of intimacy; he is dipping beside him at the shared dish.
THE MEANING
Jesus names the betrayer as “one of the twelve” who “dippeth with me in the dish.” Shared nearness and betrayal occupy the same scene; sharing a table cannot guarantee loyalty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that intimacy makes betrayal impossible dissolves here: the hand at the same dish can still be the betraying hand.
THE ROOT
ἐμβαπτόμενος
embaptómenos
GROWS FROM
βαπ- (from βάπτω, báptō)
The Greek verbal stem βαπ- carries the sense of dipping or immersing.
“dippeth” in this verse is embaptómenos. The verb describes the act of dipping into the dish, making the shared gesture concrete: the betrayer’s hand enters the same dish as Jesus’ hand. The root itself names the motion, while the betrayal lies in the person performing it.
ALSO GROWS
báptō: Dip; plunge.
βάπτω
This is the basic verb beneath Mark’s compound, bringing the physical act of dipping into view.
baptízō: Immerse.
βαπτίζω
This related form extends the same dip-stem to immersion, while Mark keeps the action immediate and literal: dipping into a shared dish.
THE PATTERN
Betrayal can be named at the shared table, where outward closeness and treachery occupy the same scene.
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.THE THREAD
Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.John uses the same Greek verb for dipping, ἐμβάπτω, and then names Judas as the one who receives the dipped morsel. That shared root links Mark’s dipping hand to a specific gesture within a relationship that still contains betrayal.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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