John 8:33

Bible in Basic English (1941)

They said to him in answer, We are Abraham's seed and have never been any man's servant: why do you say, You will become free?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

¶Ἀπεκρίθησαν αὐτῷ, Σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ ἐσμεν, καὶ οὐδενὶ δεδουλεύκαμεν πώποτε: πῶς σὺ λέγεις, ὅτι Ἐλεύθεροι γενήσεσθε;

Transliteration

Apekrithēsan to-him, Sperma Abraam esmen, and oudeni dedouleukamen pōpote: how you legeis, that Eleutheroi genēsesthe?

Grammar Details

• *Apekrithēsan*: aorist passive indicative, 3rd person plural - they answered/replied [completed action]
• *Sperma*: nominative neuter singular - seed/offspring
• *Abraam*: genitive masculine singular - of Abraham
• *esmen*: present active indicative, 1st person plural - we are
• *oudeni*: dative masculine singular - to no one
• *dedouleukamen*: perfect active indicative, 1st person plural - we have been enslaved/served
• *pōpote*: temporal adverb - ever/at any time
• *legeis*: present active indicative, 2nd person singular - you say/tell
• *Eleutheroi*: adjective, nominative masculine plural - free (ones)
• *genēsesthe*: future middle indicative, 2nd person plural - you will become

Word Meanings

• *Sperma*: seed/offspring/descendants
• *dedouleukamen*: have been enslaved/have served as slaves/have been in bondage
• *pōpote*: ever/at any time/never
• *Eleutheroi*: free/not enslaved/liberated
• *genēsesthe*: will become/will be made

Referenced Verses

• Matt 3:9 : 9 And say not to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; because I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children for Abraham.
• John 8:39 : 39 In answer they said to him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children you would do what Abraham did.
• John 8:37 : 37 I am conscious that you are Abraham's seed; but you have a desire to put me to death because my word has no place in you.
• John 19:25 : 25 Now by the side of the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.
• Luke 16:24-26 : 24 And he gave a cry and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may put the end of his finger in water and put it on my tongue, for I am cruelly burning in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Keep in mind, my son, that when you were living, you had your good things, while Lazarus had evil things: but now, he is comforted and you are in pain. 26 And in addition, there is a deep division fixed between us and you, so that those who might go from here to you are not able to do so, and no one may come from you to us.
• Gen 15:13 : 13 And he said to Abram, Truly, your seed will be living in a land which is not theirs, as servants to a people who will be cruel to them for four hundred years;
• Exod 1:13-14 : 13 And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do: 14 And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions.
• Lev 25:42 : 42 For they are my servants whom I took out from the land of Egypt; they may not become the property of another.
• Judg 2:18 : 18 And whenever the Lord gave them judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and was their saviour from the hands of their haters all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved by their cries of grief because of those who were cruel to them.
• Judg 3:8 : 8 So the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel were his servants for eight years.
• Judg 4:3 : 3 Then the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron war-carriages, and for twenty years he was very cruel to the children of Israel.
• Ezra 9:9 : 9 For we are servants; but our God has not been turned away from us in our prison, but has had mercy on us before the eyes of the kings of Persia, to give us new strength to put up again the house of our God and to make fair its waste places, and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
• Neh 5:4-8 : 4 And there were others who said, We have given up our fields and our vine-gardens to get money for the king's taxes. 5 But our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen, and our children as their children: and now we are giving our sons and daughters into the hands of others, to be their servants, and some of our daughters are servants even now: and we have no power to put a stop to it; for other men have our fields and our vine-gardens. 6 And on hearing their outcry and what they said I was very angry. 7 And after turning it over in my mind, I made a protest to the chiefs and the rulers, and said to them, Every one of you is taking interest from his countryman. And I got together a great meeting of protest. 8 And I said to them, We have given whatever we were able to give, to make our brothers the Jews free, who were servants and prisoners of the nations: and would you now give up your brothers for a price, and are they to become our property? Then they said nothing, answering not a word.
• Neh 9:27-28 : 27 And so you gave them up into the hands of their haters who were cruel to them: and in the time of their trouble, when they made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; and in your great mercy gave them saviours, who made them free from the hands of their haters. 28 But when they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their haters, who had rule over them: but when they came back and made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation;
• Neh 9:36-37 : 36 Now, today, we are servants, and as for the land which you gave to our fathers, so that the produce of it and the good might be theirs, see, we are servants in it: 37 And it gives much increase to the kings whom you have put over us because of our sins: and they have power over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great trouble.