Bible Strands
John 11:6
So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus acts after receiving news of Lazarus’s illness, marking the interval between His stated love for the family and His immediate command to the disciples to return to Judea.
The words — ἤκουσεν (ēkousen) records the factual reception of the report, while ἔμεινεν (emeinen) denotes the deliberate act of remaining in His current location for two days.
The thread — The deliberate pause aligns with Isaiah 30:18, which ties God’s gracious timing to His justice, and Isaiah 55:8, which contrasts human expectations with divine ways. Genesis 22:14 similarly reflects a pattern of waiting on sovereign provision.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to acknowledge that love does not compel immediate action, demanding acceptance of a timeline determined by divine purpose rather than human urgency.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 30:18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.
- Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
- Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- Genesis 42:24 And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.
- Genesis 43:29 When Joseph looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” Then he declared, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”
- Genesis 44:1 Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack.
- Genesis 45:1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
- Matthew 15:22 And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.”