Bible Strands
John 12:32
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to Myself.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to foreign visitors who came to see him at the Feast (John 12:20). Verse 33 confirms he is indicating the kind of death he will die.
The words — ὑψωθῶ (hupsōthō), "lifted up," is a passive form that implies an agent doing the lifting, and it is the same idiom Jesus uses for the cross in John 3:14 and 8:28. ἑλκύσω (helkusō), "will draw," is a forceful verb meaning to pull or drag, not a gentle attraction.
The thread — The "lifted up" language runs through John 3:14 (Moses lifting the serpent) and John 8:28 (the Son of Man lifted up), and 1 Peter 2:24 connects the cross to bearing sins on the tree.
Why it lands — The verse claims the cross is the instrument by which Jesus draws "everyone," and ἑλκύσω is not passive magnetism but an active pulling. The reader is placed inside the scope of that drawing and asked to reckon with what it means to be pulled by the one who was lifted up.
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 I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Cross-references
- John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
- John 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father has taught Me.
- 1 Peter 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
- 1 John 2:2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
- John 1:7 He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.
- John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
- 1 Timothy 2:6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all—the testimony that was given at just the right time.
- Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
- Hosea 11:4 I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.