John 11:41 Father, I thank thee

Spoken to
Father

After Lazarus's death, Jesus comes to the tomb and asks for the stone to be removed.

KJV

John 11:41 Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

NIV

John 11:41 Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

LISTENERS HEARD

Father, I thank you because you hear me.

MY TAKE

Start by thanking someone before asking for a big favor.

GREEK (Each Word Explained Bottom of Page)
LOST IN TRANSLATION

Jesus uses the Greek word translated as "thank" only twice. It means both to offer a favor and to be grateful for receiving favors.  The idea is that bestowing a favor creates thankfulness. This is related to the idea of "debt" in the Gospels. This is the only time that he thanks his Father. His other use of this word is in a parable.

The word translated as "have/hast heard" is actually the present tense. Jesus is thanking the Father for hearing him now. This is made clear in the next verse.

  • WT - Wrong Tense - The verb "has" indicates the past perfect tense, but the tense is the present, "hear."
  • WT - Wrong Tense - The verb "has" indicates the past perfect tense, but the tense is the present, "hear."
EACH WORD of KJV

Father, -- "Father" is the Greek noun that means "father" or any male ancestor so "forefathers." It is the word that Christ uses to address his own Father.

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

thank - The Greek word translated as "thank" means both to offer a favor and to be grateful for receiving favors. The two ideas were tied together. The idea is that bestowing a favor automatically creates thankfulness. This is related to the sense of "debt" in the Gospels, which is a topic Christ addresses more commonly, most noticeably in the Lord's Prayer.

thee -- The word for "you" is the indirect object form of the singular, second-person pronoun in the form of an indirect object, which usually requires a preposition in English, like "to you."

that -- The word translated as "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause, "for what," "because," "since," and "wherefore."

thou -- This is from the second-person, singular form of the verb.

hast -- (WT) This helping verb "hast" indicates that the verb is the tense indicating an action completed in the past. This is not the tense of the verb here.

heard  -- "Heard" is from a Greek verb that means "to hear" and "to listen." It has the same sense as the English not only of listening but of understanding.  It is the most common verb that Christ uses meaning "to hear." It also means "to listen" and "to understand," but amusingly, it also means "to be silent." The accusative object is the person/thing heard about, while the genitive is the person/thing heard from.

me. -- "Me" is the first-person possessive singular pronoun. As the genitive object of this verb it is the person heard from.

EACH WORD of NIV

Father, I thank you that you have heard me.

Father, -- "Father" is the Greek noun that means "father" or any male ancestor so "forefathers." It is the word that Christ uses to address his own Father.

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

thank - The Greek word translated as "thank" means both to offer a favor and to be grateful for receiving favors. The two ideas were tied together. The idea is that bestowing a favor automatically creates thankfulness. This is related to the sense of "debt" in the Gospels, which is a topic Christ addresses more commonly, most noticeably in the Lord's Prayer.

you -- The word for "you" is the indirect object form of the singular, second-person pronoun in the form of an indirect object, which usually requires a preposition in English, like "to you."

that -- The word translated as "that" introduces a statement of fact or cause, "for what," "because," "since," and "wherefore."

you -- This is from the second-person, singular form of the verb.

have -- (WT) This helping verb "have" indicates that the verb is the tense indicating an action completed in the past. This is not the tense of the verb here.

heard  -- "Heard" is from a Greek verb that means "to hear" and "to listen." It has the same sense as the English not only of listening but of understanding.  It is the most common verb that Christ uses meaning "to hear." It also means "to listen" and "to understand," but amusingly, it also means "to be silent." The accusative object is the person/thing heard about, while the genitive is the person/thing heard from.

me. -- "Me" is the first-person possessive singular pronoun. As the genitive object of this verb it is the person heard from.

COMPARISON: GREEK to KJV

Πάτερ, [191 verses](noun sg masc vec) "The Father" is pater, which means "father," "grandfather," "author," "parent," and "forefathers."

εὐχαριστῶ [2 verses](1st sg pres ind act) "I thank" is from eucharisteo, which means "to bestow a favor on," "to oblige," "to be thankful," "to return thanks," and "to be received with thanks." 

σοὶ [81 verses](pron 2nd sg dat) "Thee" is soi which is the singular, second-person pronoun, "you," in the form of an indirect pronoun.

ὅτι [332 verses](adv/conj) "That" is hoti, which introduces a statement of fact "with regard to the fact that," "seeing that," and acts as a causal adverb meaning "for what," "because," "since," and "wherefore."

ἤκουσάς [95 verses](verb 1st sg pres ind act) "Thou hast heard" is akouo,  which means "hear of," "hear tell of," "what one actually hears," "know by hearsay," "listen to," "give ear to," "hear and understand," and "understand." The accusative object is the person/thing heard about, while the genitive is the person/thing heard from.  However, two genitives can be used with the sense of "hear of a thing from a person." -

μου [239 verses](adj sg masc gen) "Me" is from mou (emou), which means "me," and "mine." As a genitive object means movement away from something or a position away from something else.

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