John 13:20 (DBY)

Passage

Verily, verily, I say to you, He who receives whomsoever I shall send receives me; and he that receives me receives him who has sent me.

Nearby Context

John 13:18 I speak not of you all. I know those whom I have chosen; but that the scripture might be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.

John 13:19 I tell you [it] now before it happens, that when it happens, ye may believe that I am [he].

John 13:20 Verily, verily, I say to you, He who receives whomsoever I shall send receives me; and he that receives me receives him who has sent me.

John 13:21 Having said these things, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you shall deliver me up.

John 13:22 The disciples therefore looked one on another, doubting of whom he spoke.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "verily", "receives", "whomsoever", "shall", and "send". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "verily" and "receives", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "I tell you it now before it..." into verse 21's "Having said these things Jesus was troubled...", so "verily" and "receives" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "verily" and "receives" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.