Bible Strands
John 12:20
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the arrival of certain Greeks among pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for a Jewish feast. This statement occurs immediately after the Pharisees lament the growing attention on Jesus and just before the Greeks request an audience with him through Philip.
The words — The text uses Ἕλληνες (Hellēnes) to identify these visitors as Greeks, distinguishing them from the Jewish crowd. It also employs ἀναβαινόντων (anabainontōn), meaning "coming up," to describe their physical journey to the temple site.
The thread — This movement of Gentiles seeking the Jewish Messiah aligns with the prophetic scope of Isaiah 11:10 and anticipates the later inclusion of God-fearing Greeks in Acts 17:4. It also echoes the Jewish confusion in John 7:35 about where Jesus will go to reach the dispersed nations.
Why it lands — The verse states that non-Jewish pilgrims are present at the feast, establishing a demographic shift in Jesus' immediate audience. It requires the reader to acknowledge that claims about Christ extend beyond their own cultural boundaries and demand a direct response to his authority.
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
And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
Cross-references
- John 7:35 At this, the Jews said to one another, “Where does He intend to go that we will not find Him? Will He go where the Jews are dispersed among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?
- Isaiah 11:10 On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.
- Acts 17:4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.
- 1 Kings 8:41 And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—
- Mark 7:26 Now she was a Greek woman of Syrophoenician origin, and she kept asking Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
- Acts 8:27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
- Galatians 2:3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
- Isaiah 60:2 For behold, darkness covers the earth, and thick darkness is over the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear over you.
- Acts 14:1 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.
- Acts 16:1 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father.