John 11:11 Our friend Lazarus sleepeth;

Spoken to: 

Apostles

Jesus is headed back to Judea to see the weakening Lazarus and his disciples worry about stoning. Jesus makes light of it.

KJV: 

John 11:11 Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

NIV : 

John 11:11 Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

LISTENERS HEARD: 

Lazarus, that friend of ours, has fallen sleep. Instead, I do [this[ in order that I might awaken him.

MY TAKE: 

Someone must awaken up out of death.

GREEK (Each Word Explained Bottom of Page): 

GREEK ORDER: 

Λάζαρος      φίλος     ἡμῶν κεκοίμηται,
Lazarus, that friend of ours, has been put to sleep.

ἀλλὰ      πορεύομαι ἵνα               ἐξυπνίσω         αὐτόν.
Instead, I do [this[  in order that I might awaken him.

LOST IN TRANSLATION: 

The Greek verbs translated "sleep" and "wake" are only used by Jesus in this verse, and are not the common Greek words for these general ideas that Jesus uses elsewhere. These words have a more specific meaning.  Jesus also referred to Jarius's daughter as sleeping, but he used the common Greek verb. The Greek verb used here describes the process of falling asleep or, in the passive used here, being put to sleep.  The common word that means "awaken" is one Jesus uses to describe his own resurrection but implies being raised up. This word means literally "from sleep."

The word starting the second sentence, translated as "but," is almost always used by Jesus to join negative and positive phrases, more like our "instead." Here it seems to be an answer to the Apostles' statement that he is going to Judea to get killed. "Instead" he does this to awaken Lazarus.

# KJV TRANSLATION ISSUES: 

6
  • CW - Confusing Word -- The "sleep" is not the common word usually translated as "sleep."
  • WT - Wrong Tense - The English verb "sleep" is the present tense, but Greek is in the past perfect, a completed action, "has fallen."
  • CW - Confusing Word -- The "but" is not the common word usually translated as "but."
  • OS -- Outdated Source -- The Greek word translated as "go" existed in the KJV Greek source but not the source we use today.
  • CW - Confusing Word -- The "awake" is not the common word usually translated as "awake."
  • IP - Inserted Phrase-- The phrase "out of sleep" doesn't exist in the source, but it is a parsing of the verb's prefix and root.

# NIV TRANSLATION ISSUES: 

8
  • CW - Confusing Word -- The "but" is not the common word usually translated as "but."
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "going" should be something more like "do" or "perform."
  • IW - Inserted Word -- The word "there" doesn't exist in the source.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "in order that" is not shown in the English translation.
  • MW - Missing Word -- The word "may" is not shown in the English translation.
  • WF - Wrong Form -  The "to" indicates an infinitive,  but that is not the verb form.
  • CW - Confusing Word -- The "wake" is not the common word usually translated as "awake."
  • WW - Wrong Word -- The word translated as "up" should be something more like "from" or "out of."

EACH WORD of KJV : 

Our --  -- The "our" is the plural possessive first-person pronoun. This pronoun follows the noun so "of ours."

friend -- "Friend" is an adjective means "loved," "beloved," "dear," "kith and kin," "nearest and dearest," "friends," and (of things) "welcome" and "pleasant." It forms is an adjective used as a noun. In English, we would say "loved one."

Lazarus  - "Lazarus" is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar, which means "He who God helps."

sleepeth; (CW, WT) "Sleepeth" is a verb that means "to lull", "to fall asleep", "to put to sleep", "to go to bed", "to keep watch during the night", "to remain during the night," and it is a metaphor for "to still" and "to calm." Jesus only uses this word here. This should be "has fallen" or "has been put" because it is the past perfect tense.

 but -- (CW) The Greek word translated as "but" denotes an exception or simple opposition. It is used to emphasize the contrast between things like we use "instead," "but instead,"or "rather." It is not the common word usually translated as "but." It is the Greek word "other" like we use "otherwise." Jesus often uses this conjunction to connect a negative clause, "not this," with a positive one, "instead this."

I -- This is from the first-person, singular form of the verb.

go, -- (OS) The Greek word translated as "go" has the primary meaning of "making" or producing" something or "causing" or "performing" as service. It describes a productive action.  In English, "do" is also frequently a helper verb. This Greek word is not used as broadly. When it doesn't have an object, the verb is more clearly translated as  "perform." The KJV source used a different word.

that -- The word translated as "that" is an adverb "in that place," "there," "where," "when," or as a conjunction that starts a subordinate clause  "that," "when," "in order that" or "because."

I -- This is from the first-person, singular form of the verb.

may -- This helping verb "may" indicates that the verb indicates a possibility, the subjunctive. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English.

awake -- (CW)  "Awake" is an unique verb for Jesus that means "awaken from sleep." It is not the common word Jesus uses for "awake."

him -- The word translated as "him" is the Greek word commonly translated as third-person pronouns in English.

out -- This is from the prefix of the previous verb that means "out of" or "from."

of sleep. -- (IP) There is nothing that can be translated as "of sleep" in the Greek source. However, the word for sleep is the root of the verb above.

EACH WORD of NIV : 

Our --  -- The "our" is the plural possessive first-person pronoun. This pronoun follows the noun so "of ours."

friend -- "Friend" is an adjective means "loved," "beloved," "dear," "kith and kin," "nearest and dearest," "friends," and (of things) "welcome" and "pleasant." It forms is an adjective used as a noun. In English, we would say "loved one."

Lazarus  - "Lazarus" is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar, which means "He who God helps."

has -- This helping verb "has" indicates that the verb is the tense indicating an action completed in the past.

fallen asleep; "Fallen asleep" is a verb that means "to lull", "to fall asleep", "to put to sleep", "to go to bed", "to keep watch during the night", "to remain during the night," and it is a metaphor for "to still" and "to calm." Jesus only uses this word here.

 but -- (CW) The Greek word translated as "but" denotes an exception or simple opposition. It is used to emphasize the contrast between things like we use "instead," "but instead,"or "rather." It is not the common word usually translated as "but." It is the Greek word "other" like we use "otherwise." Jesus often uses this conjunction to connect a negative clause, "not this," with a positive one, "instead this."

I -- This is from the first-person, singular form of the verb.

am -- This helping verb indicates the present tense of the verb. It is used here to form the present, progressive tense, which doesn't exist in Greek but which can smooth the flow of English sentences.

going , -- (WW) The Greek word translated as "go" has the primary meaning of "making" or producing" something or "causing" or "performing" as service. It describes a productive action.  In English, "do" is also frequently a helper verb. This Greek word is not used as broadly. When it doesn't have an object, the verb is more clearly translated as  "perform."

there -- (IW) There is nothing that can be translated as "these" in the Greek source.

missing "in order that"  -- (MW) The untranslated word  "that" is an adverb "in that place," "there," "where," "when," or as a conjunction that starts a subordinate clause  "that," "when," "in order that" or "because."

missing "may"  -- (MW) The untranslated word  "may" indicates that the verb indicates a possibility, the subjunctive. Helping or auxiliary verbs are needed to translate the Greek verb forms into English.

to -- (WF) This "to" is added because to create an infinitive form of the verb requires a "to" in English. That is not the form of the verb here.

wake -- (CW)  "Wake" is an unique verb for Jesus that means "awaken from sleep." It is not the common word Jesus uses for "awake."

him -- The word translated as "him" is the Greek word commonly translated as third-person pronouns in English.

up -- (WW) This is from the prefix of the previous verb that means "out of" or "from," not "up" which is the prefix of a more common verb that means "wake up."

COMPARISON: GREEK to KJV : 

Λάζαρος  [7 verses](Hebrew Name) "Lazarus" is from "Lazaros," which is a Greek form of the Hebrew name Eleazar, which means "He who God helps."

[821 verses](article sg masc nom)  Untranslated is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the").  - missing "the"  -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article,"the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more. 

φίλος [17 verses](adj sg masc nom) "Friend" is from philos, which as an adjective means "loved," "beloved," "dear," "kith and kin," "nearest and dearest," "friends," and (of things) "welcome" and "pleasant." It forms is of an adjective used as a noun. In English, we would say "loved ones."

ἡμῶν [16 verses](pro 1st pl gen) "Our" is hemon, which is the plural possessive (genitive) form of the first-personal pronoun.

κεκοίμηται,[1 verse] (3rd sg perf ind mp) "Sleepeth" is from koimao, which means "to lull", "to fall asleep", "to put to sleep", "to go to bed", "to keep watch during the night", "to remain during the night," and it is a metaphor for "to still" and "to calm."

ἀλλὰ [154 verses](conj) "But" is alla, which means "instead," "otherwise," "but," "still," "at least," "except," "yet," nevertheless," "rather," "moreover," and "nay."

πορεύομαι , [168 verses](1st sg pres ind mp) "I go" " is poieo, which means "to make," "to produce," "to create," "to bring into existence," "to bring about," "to cause," "to perform," "to render," "to consider," "to prepare," "to make ready," and "to do."

ἵνα [134 verses](adv/conj) "That" is hina, which means "in that place," "there," "where," "when,"  but when beginning a phrase "that," "in order that," "when," and "because."

ἐξυπνίσω [1 verse](1st sg aor subj act) "I may wake" is from exypnizo, which means "awaken from sleep."

αὐτόν. [720 verses](adj sg masc acc) "Him" is autos, which means "the same," and the reflexive pronouns, "myself," "yourself," "himself," "herself," "itself," or the oblique case of the pronouns, "him," "her," and "it." It also means "one's true self," that is, "the soul" as opposed to the body and "of one's own accord." In the adverbial form, it  means "just here" or "exactly there."

Possible Symbolic Meaning: 

Jesus uses "sleep" as a metaphor for death. In both here and with Jarius's daughter, death is treated as a temporary state of unconsciousness.

Front Page Date: 

Jul 29 2022