λέγει, (legei) in John 1:36: Verb Third Person Singular Present Active Indicative
λέγει, (legei) in John 1:36
Textual Witness
The witness reads λέγει in John 1:36, within the textus-receptus tradition recorded here.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The verb makes the testimony feel direct and present, but the meaning stays anchored in the surrounding sight and speech of the verse.
How To Communicate It
For readers, λέγει signals that a spoken witness report is beginning, so the emphasis falls on what is said next.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Verb tense and mood can shape narration, but they do not create meaning apart from the clause and scene.
- Do not make the singular form or third person reference carry theological claims that the context does not state.
What Does The Label Mean?
Verb: the form names an act of speaking and functions as a finite verbal assertion in the clause.
Present: often views the action as in progress, customary, or presently in view. Context decides the exact force.
Active: presents the subject as doing or carrying the action.
Indicative: presents the verbal idea as an assertion or statement in the clause.
Third person: the form speaks about someone or something rather than directly as I/we or you.
Not applicable: this verb form is not using noun case to mark its sentence role.
Singular: the form is grammatically singular and presents one speaker as the subject of the action.
Not applicable: this verb form does not use grammatical gender to make its point.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The form stands with the scene that follows the participial frame, especially the direct speech introduced by Ἴδε.
It is a finite main verb that carries the saying action forward from the preceding look toward Jesus walking.
It introduces the spoken words, marking that someone speaks after seeing Jesus and before the call to look.
It does not name the speaker, and it does not by itself tell the reader who is speaking beyond the surrounding context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The verb introduces John the Baptist speaking the Lamb of God witness as Jesus walks by.
Third-person present active indicative speech verb. introduces the direct witness that follows. Attached to John the Baptist as the singular speaker. Governed by the narrative frame after John looks at Jesus walking. The verb reports the speaking action; the content of the witness carries the theological claim.
Who speaks the witness in this verse? The form presents one speaker, John, introducing the words about the Lamb of God.
Direct: The third-person present directly supports English wording such as "he says" or "he said" in the speech frame.
The present speech verb marks the narrated dialogue frame; it should not be treated as the source of the Lamb of God claim.
Present tense supplies the theology of the title: The verb introduces the words; the title and surrounding testimony carry the theological meaning.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The witness reads λέγει in John 1:36, within the textus-receptus tradition recorded here.
The lemma is λέγω, which in this context means to say or speak, not to introduce a different lexical idea.
The present indicative fits a narrative report of speech, serving as the bridge from seeing Jesus to voicing the statement that follows.
The verse depicts a witness who sees Jesus walking and then says, Look, the Lamb of God.
Within John, this kind of speech introduction supports public testimony about Jesus without requiring the verb form to carry extra theology on its own.
In communication, the form keeps the scene active and immediate, helping the reader hear the testimony as a spoken witness statement.
Do not derive the identity of the speaker, doctrinal weight, or emotional tone from the verb form alone; those come from the sentence and larger context.