John 8:56

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Your	ὑμῶν hymōn	G5216	of (from or concerning) you
father	πατὴρ patēr	G3962	a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine
Abraham	Ἀβραὰμ Abraam	G11	Abraham · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
rejoiced	ἠγαλλιάσατο ēgalliasato	G21	properly · verb — aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
to	ἵνα ina	G2443	compare G3588 (ὁ)) · conjunction
see	ἴδῃ idē	G1492	used only in certain past tenses · verb — second aorist active subjunctive, 3rd person singular
my	ἐμός emós	G1699	my
day	ἡμέραν hēmeran	G2250	day · noun — accusative singular feminine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
he saw	εἶδεν eiden	G1492	used only in certain past tenses · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
was glad	ἐχάρη. echarē	G5463	to be "cheer"ful · verb — second aorist passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular

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

Hebrews 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and…
Genesis 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Galatians 3:7-9 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Matthew 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and t…
John 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abrah…
Luke 10:24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things…
1 Peter 1:10-12 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
Hebrews 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 8:51–end

In these verses we have, I. The doctrine of the immortality of believers laid down, Joh 8:51. It is ushered in with the usual solemn preface, Verily, verily, I say unto you, which commands both attention and assent, and this is what he says, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death. Here we have, 1. The character of a believer: he is one that keeps the sayings of the Lord Jesus, ton logon ton emon - my word; that word of mine which I have delivered to you; this we must not only receive, but keep; not only have, but hold. We must keep it in mind and memory, keep it in love and affection, so keep it as in nothing to violate it or go contrary to it, keep it without spot (Ti1 6:14), ke…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 8:56

Abraham rejoiced to see my day, &c.--exulted, or exceedingly rejoiced that he should see, he exulted to see it, that is, by anticipation. Nay, he saw it, and was glad--he actually beheld it, to his joy. If this mean no more than that he had a prophetic foresight of the gospel-day--the second clause just repeating the first--how could the Jews understand our Lord to mean that He "had seen Abraham?" And if it mean that Abraham was then beholding, in his disembodied spirit, the incarnate Messiah [STIER, ALFORD, &c.], the words seem very unsuitable to express it. It expresses something past--"he saw My day, and was glad," that is, surely while he lived. He seems to refer to the familiar interc…

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Adam Clarke on John 8:56

Abraham rejoiced to see my day - Or, he earnestly desired to see my day; ηγαλλιασατο, from αγαν, very much, and ἁλλομαι, I leap - his soul leaped forward in earnest hope and strong expectation that he might see the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The metaphor appears to be taken from a person who, desiring to see a long-expected friend who is coming, runs forward, now and then jumping up to see if he can discover him. There is a saying very like this in Sohar Numer fol. 61: "Abraham rejoiced because he could know, and perceive, and cleave to the Divine Name." The Divine name is יהוה Yehovah; and by this they simply mean God himself. And he saw it - Not only in the first promise, Gen 3:15, for…

The Church Fathers

[Jesus] certainly proves [here] that it was not the Father that appeared to Abraham but the Son.
— Tertullian, AGAINST PRAXEAS 22

(Hom. xv. in Evang.) Abraham saw the day of the Lord even then, when he entertained the three Angels, a figure of the Trinity.
— Gregory the Dialogist ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

(Hom. liv. 2) They are aliens from Abraham if they grieve over what he rejoiced in. By this day perhaps He means the day of the cross, which Abraham prefigured by the offering up of Isaac and the ram: intimating hereby that He did not come to His passion unwillingly.
— John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

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

Jews, The · Christ: Expected by — Christ: Expected by
Self-Righteousness · .Pharisees — .Pharisees

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 8:56

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 8:51–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 8:56

Adam Clarke on John 8:56

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 8:56

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 8:51–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 8:56

Adam Clarke on John 8:56

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on John 8:56

John Calvin on John 8:56–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 8:56