Tool Beta
Hebrew and Greek Without Learning Either
A walk through Genesis, the Psalms, and John, plus the key Hebrew and Greek words worth knowing. Each card is a place the English Bibles part company, and what in the Hebrew or Greek made them.
John 6:44
Except the Father draw him. The verb is used of hauling a net and drawing a sword.
John 6:44, in every translation this tool compares.
He drew the curtain. They dragged him out. One English family, and the force in it depends entirely on what is being moved.
Because the whole argument about whether the drawing is irresistible turns on a verb that is used elsewhere of dragging people into court and of hauling a full net ashore.
Every version reads draw or drag.
ἑλκύω helkuo · G1670
Helkuo is used of hauling a net at John 21:6 and 21:11, of drawing a sword at John 18:10, and of dragging people before magistrates at Acts 16:19. John 12:32 uses the same verb of drawing all people.
English draw covers the whole range too, from a gentle pull to a haul, so the range survives and the force is still decided by context rather than by the word.
Listing every occurrence of a verb is more useful than any lexicon gloss, especially where a doctrine rests on how forceful it is.
Draw is the majority rendering; drag appears where the context is clearly violent.
- Hauling a net: John 21:6, 11
- Drawing a sword: John 18:10
- Dragging to court: Acts 16:19; 21:30; James 2:6
- Drawing all people: John 12:32
