John 8:33

King James Version 1611 (Original)

They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made 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 think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
• John 8:39 : 39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
• John 8:37 : 37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.
• John 19:25 : 25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
• Luke 16:24-26 : 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
• Gen 15:13 : 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
• Exod 1:13-14 : 13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: 14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
• Lev 25:42 : 42 For they are my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.
• Judg 2:18 : 18 And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
• Judg 3:8 : 8 Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
• Judg 4:3 : 3 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.
• Ezra 9:9 : 9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
• Neh 5:4-8 : 4 There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. 5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. 6 And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. 7 Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. 8 And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.
• Neh 9:27-28 : 27 Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. 28 But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
• Neh 9:36-37 : 36 Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it: 37 And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.