John 4:49

The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
nobleman	βασιλικός· basilikos	G937	regal (in relation) · adjective — nominative singular masculine
saith	λέγει legei	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
unto	πρὸς pros	G4314	a preposition of direction · preposition
him	αὐτὸν auton	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
Sir	κύριε, kurie	G2962	supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine
down	κατάβηθι katabēthi	G2597	to descend (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active imperative, 2nd person singular
ere	πρὶν prin	G4250	prior · preposition
my	μοῦ moû	G3450	of me
child	παιδίον paidion	G3813	a childling (of either sex) · noun — accusative singular neuter
die	ἀποθανεῖν apothanein	G599	to die off (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist 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

Mark 5:23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may b…
Psalms 40:17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
Psalms 88:10-12 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Mark 5:35-36 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Mast…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 4:43–end

In these verses we have, I. Christ's coming into Galilee, Joh 4:43. Though he was as welcome among the Samaritans as he could be any where, and had better success, yet after two days he left them, not so much because they were Samaritans, and he would not confirm those in their prejudices against him who said, He is a Samaritan (Joh 8:48), but because he must preach to other cities, Luk 4:43. He went into Galilee, for there he spent much of his time. Now see here, 1. Whither Christ went; into Galilee, into the country of Galilee, but not to Nazareth, which was strictly his own country. He went among the villages, but declined going to Nazareth, the head city, for a reason here given, which J…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 4:49

come down ere my child die--"While we talk, the case is at its crisis, and if Thou come not instantly, all is over." This was faith, but partial, and our Lord would perfect it. The man cannot believe the cure could be wrought without the Physician coming to the patient--the thought of such a thing evidently never occurred to him. But Jesus will in a moment bring him up to this.

Adam Clarke on John 4:49

Sir, come down, etc. - He did not think our Lord could cure him without being present, and seems here to feel himself hurt, because our Lord did not come at his first entreaty. It is difficult for a proud man, or a man in office, to humble himself, or to treat even God Almighty with proper respect. The spirit of this man seems not much unlike to that of Naaman the Syrian, Kg2 5:11.

John Gill on John 4:49

The nobleman saith unto him, Sir,.... Notwithstanding this reproof, and seeming denial, he presses him again, and addressing him in a handsome and courteous manner, importunately entreats him, saying: come down ere my son die; here was faith with a mixture of unbelief; he believed that Christ was able to heal his son, but he still thought that his going down with him was necessary; that he must be corporeally present, and must lay his hands on him, or touch him, or speak, and command the distemper off, or something of this kind, and which must be done before he died; for otherwise, should he die first, all hope was then gone; he had no notion of Christ being able to raise him from the dead.

The Church Fathers

(Hom. in Evang. xxviii. 1) Remember what He asked for, and you will plainly see that he doubted. He asked Him to come down and see his son: The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down, ere my child die. His faith was deficient; in that he thought that our Lord could not save, except He were personally present.
— Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Feeble indeed unto understanding is the nobleman, for he is a child in his petition for grace, and almost dotes without perceiving it. For by believing that Christ had power not only when present, but that He would surely avail even absent, he would have had a most worthy conception of Him. But now both thinking and acting most foolishly, he asks power befitting God, and does not think He accomplishes all things as God, nor yet that He will be superior to death, although beseeching Him to gain the advantage over him that had all but overcome; for the child was at the point of death.
— Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 2

But remember what he asked for, and you will clearly recognize that he wavered in faith. For he asked that the Lord would come down and heal his son. Therefore he was seeking the bodily presence of the Lord, who through the Spirit was absent nowhere. Thus he believed less in him whom he did not think able to give health unless he were present in body. For if he had believed perfectly, he would undoubtedly have known that there is no place where God is not. Therefore to a great extent he was lacking in faith, because he gave honor not to the divine majesty but to bodily presence. Thus he sought health for his son, and yet wavered in faith, because he believed that the one to whom he came was powerful enough to heal, and yet thought him absent from his dying son.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 28

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

Crucifixion — A common mode of punishment among heathen nations in early times. It is not certain whether it was known among the ancient Jews; probably it was not. The modes of capital punishment according to the…
Nobleman — (Gr. basilikos, i.e., “king’s man”), an officer of state (John 4:49) in the service of Herod Antipas. He is supposed to have been the Chuza, Herod’s steward, whose wife was one of those women who…
Capernaum · Miracles of Jesus performed at — Miracles of Jesus performed at
Miracles Of Christ, The · Nobleman’s son healed — Nobleman’s son healed
Nobleman · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Parents · .The nobleman — .The nobleman

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).

John 4:49

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 4:43–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 4:49

Adam Clarke on John 4:49

John Gill on John 4:49

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 4:49

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 4:43–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 4:49

Adam Clarke on John 4:49

John Gill on John 4:49

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on John 4:46–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 4:48