John 18:5 ...I am he.

Spoken to
audience

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is met by Judas and soldiers who say they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth.

KJV

John 18:5 I am he.

NIV

John 18:5 I am he,

MY TAKE

Jesus identifies as Jesus of Nazareth.

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

The first person pronoun is used as the subject, which emphasizes it (see this article).

# KJV TRANSLATION ISSUES
1
  • MW -- Missing Word  -- The pronoun repeats the information in the verb so it should be repeated in English like "I myself."
  • MW -- Missing Word  -- The pronoun repeats the information in the verb so it should be repeated in English like "I myself."
EACH WORD of KJV

I -- The pronoun "I" is used here.  When it has no verb, the verb "is" or the previous verb is assumed. When the subject of the sentence is part of the verb, this pronoun's accentuates who is speaking "I." Saying "I myself" captures this feeling in English.

missing "myself" -- (MW)  The subject pronoun repeats the information in the verb so it should be repeated in English like "I myself."

am -- The verb "am" here is the common form of "to be" in Greek. It means to have a certain characteristic or remain in a certain condition. It also equates terms or assigns characteristics.  The word also means "to exist" and where it doesn't connect to characteristics or conditions.

he. -- This English objective pronoun is added and not in the Greek source.   In Greek, pronoun objects are not repeated after each verb because they are implied by their first occurrence.

EACH WORD of NIV

I -- The pronoun "I" is used here.  When it has no verb, the verb "is" or the previous verb is assumed. When the subject of the sentence is part of the verb, this pronoun's accentuates who is speaking "I." Saying "I myself" captures this feeling in English.

missing "myself" -- (MW)  The subject pronoun repeats the information in the verb so it should be repeated in English like "I myself."

am -- The verb "am" here is the common form of "to be" in Greek. It means to have a certain characteristic or remain in a certain condition. It also equates terms or assigns characteristics.  The word also means "to exist" and where it doesn't connect to characteristics or conditions.

he. -- This English objective pronoun is added and not in the Greek source.   In Greek, pronoun objects are not repeated after each verb because they are implied by their first occurrence.

COMPARISON: GREEK to KJV

Ἐγώ[162 verses](pron 1st sg masc nom) "I" is ego, which is the first-person singular pronoun meaning "I." It also means "I at least," "for my part," "indeed," and for myself.

εἰμι .[614 verses](verb 1st sg pres ind ac) "Am" is eimi, which means "to be," "to exist," "to be the case," of circumstance and events "to happen,"  and "is possible." With the genitive object, the sense is "belongs to." With the dative, it means "have" where the subject and object are reversed.

 

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