John 11:44 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
John 11:44
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb — perfect active participle, nominative singular masculine
forth
ἐξῆλθενexēlthen
G1831
to issue (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
bound
δεδεμένοςdedemenos
G1210
to bind (in various applications · verb — perfect passive participle, nominative singular masculine
hand
χεῖραςcheiras
G5495
the hand (literally or figuratively (power) · noun — accusative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
foot
πόδαςpodas
G4228
a "foot" (figuratively or literally) · noun — accusative plural masculine
with
δέωdéō
G1210
to bind (in various applications
graveclothes
κειρίαις,keiriais
G2750
a swathe · noun — dative plural feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
face
ὄψιςopsis
G3799
properly · noun — nominative singular feminine
with
περιεδέδετο.periededeto
G4019
to bind around one · verb — pluperfect passive indicative, 3rd person singular
napkin
σουδαρίῳsoudariō
G4676
a sudarium (sweat-cloth) · noun — dative singular neuter
Jesus
Ἰησοῦς·Iēsous
G2424
Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
saith
λέγειlegei
G3004
properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
them
αὐτοῖςautois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
Loose
λύσατεlusate
G3089
to "loosen" (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active imperative, 2nd person plural
him
αὐτὸνauton
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
and
καίkaí
G2532
and
let him
ἄφετεaphete
G863
an intensive form of · verb — second aorist active imperative, 2nd person plural
go
ὑπάγειν.¶hupagein
G5217
to lead (oneself) under · verb — present active infinitive
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear sha…
John 20:7 And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
John 11:25-26 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Luke 7:15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.
John 5:21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Philippians 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to su…
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
1 Samuel 2:6 The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 11:33-44
Here we have, I. Christ's tender sympathy with his afflicted friends, and the share he took to himself in their sorrows, which appeared three ways: -
1. By the inward groans and troubles of his spirit (Joh 11:33): Jesus saw Mary weeping for the loss of a loving brother, and the Jews that came with her weeping for the loss of a good neighbour and friend; when he saw what a place of weepers, a bochim, this was, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. See here,
(1.) The griefs of the sons of men represented in the tears of Mary and her friends. What an emblem was here of this world, this vale of tears! Nature itself teaches us to weep over our dear relations, when they are removed by death…
Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let him go--Jesus will no more do this Himself than roll away the stone. The one was the necessary preparation for resurrection, the other the necessary sequel to it. THE LIFE-GIVING ACT ALONE HE RESERVES TO HIMSELF. So in the quickening of the dead to spiritual life, human instrumentality is employed first to prepare the way, and then to turn it to account.
Adam Clarke on John 11:44
Bound hand and foot with grave-clothes - Swathed about with rollers - κειριαις, from κειρω, I cut. These were long slips of linen a few inches in breadth, with which the body and limbs of the dead were swathed, and especially those who were embalmed, that the aromatics might be kept in contact with the flesh. But as it is evident that Lazarus had not been embalmed, it is probable that his limbs were not swathed together, as is the constant case with those who are embalmed, but separately, so that he could come out of the tomb at the command of Christ, though he could not walk freely till the rollers were taken away. But some will have it that he was swathed exactly like a mummy, and that his…
They saw Lazarus, who was made an exile from the region of death.
Christ awakes, because His power it is which quickens us inwardly: the disciples loose, because by the ministry of the priesthood, they who are quickened are absolved.
Pray, brothers, that we who have taken a sip of the resurrection with Lazarus offering the toast at Christ's return may merit drinking the whole draft of the universal resurrection.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Ephraim in the wilderness — (John 11: 54), a town to which our Lord retired with his disciples after he had raised Lazarus, and when the priests were conspiring against him. It lay in the wild, uncultivated hill-country to the…
Handkerchief — Only once in Authorized Version (Acts 19:12). The Greek word (sudarion) so rendered means properly “a sweat-cloth.” It is rendered “napkin” in John 11:44; 20:7; Luke 19:20.
Handkerchief, Napkin, Apron — (Luke 19:20; John 11:44; 20:7; Acts 19:12) These terms were used in much the same manner and having much the same significance as at the present.
John, Gospel of — The genuineness of this Gospel, i.e., the fact that the apostle John was its author, is beyond all reasonable doubt. In recent times, from about 1820, many attempts have been made to impugn its…
Lazarus — An abbreviation of Eleazar, whom God helps. (1.) The brother of Mary and Martha of Bethany. He was raised from the dead after he had lain four days in the tomb (John 11:1-44). This miracle so excited…
Martha — Bitterness, the sister of Lazarus and Mary, and probably the eldest of the family, who all resided at Bethany (Luke 10:38, 40, 41; John 11:1-39). From the residence being called “her house,” some…
Mourn — Frequent references are found in Scripture to, (1.) Mourning for the dead. Abraham mourned for Sarah (Gen. 23:2); Jacob for Joseph (37:34, 35); the Egyptians for Jacob (50:3-10); Israel for Aaron…
Napkin — (Gr. soudarion, John 11:44; 20:7; Lat. sudarium, a “sweat-cloth”), a cloth for wiping the sweat from the face. But the word is used of a wrapper to fold money in (Luke 19:20), and as an article of…
Burial · The body was: Wound in linen for — The body was: Wound in linen for
Dead (People) · .Lazarus — .Lazarus
And he that was dead came forth,.... That is, he who had been dead, being now made alive, and raised up, and set on his feet, came out of the cave:
bound hand and foot with grave clothes; not that his hands were bound together, and much less his hands and feet together, with any bands or lists of cloth; but his whole body, as Nonnus expresses it, was bound with grave clothes from head to foot, according to the manner of the eastern countries, Jews, Egyptians, and others, who used to wrap up their dead in many folds of linen cloth, as infants are wrapped in swaddling bands: and their manner was to let down their arms and hands close by their sides, and wind up altogether from head to foot: s…
John 11:39-44
39. Jesus saith, Remove the stone. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, saith to him, Lord, he already stinketh, for this is the fourth day. 40. Jesus saith to her, Did I not tell thee that, if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God? 41. They therefore removed the stone from the place where he who was dead lay. And Jesus again lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42. And I knew that thou hearest me always, but, on account of the multitude around me, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. 43. Having spoken these words, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44. And he who had been dead came forth, boun…
Lazarus was buried in a tomb cut from the rocky hillside; such tombs were common. The tomb was closed and opened for further burials with a rolling stone that covered the entrance. A central door led to a cave room where burial benches were carved in stone along the inner wall. Horizontal burial chambers were cut along the top edge of the benches.
Friendship · .Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, with Jesus — .Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, with Jesus
Lazarus · .Resurrection of — .Resurrection of
Miracles Of Christ, The · The dead raised to life — The dead raised to life
Resurrection, The · Credibility of, shown by the resurrection of individuals — Credibility of, shown by the resurrection of individuals
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
