What Does 1 Timothy 5:15 Mean?
For some have already turned aside behind the Adversary.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For some are already turned aside after Satan.THE KEY
The verse makes a turn visible by naming what the person follows next: the Adversary.
THE MEANING
The turn is already under way: someone leaves one direction and follows the Adversary. The verse makes the destination part of the turn, so what leads a person matters as much as what they leave.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that turning away is neutral: the verse names a direction and a follower.
THE ROOT
ἐξετράπησαν
exetrapēsan
GROWS FROM
τρέπ
turn, direct, or alter course
“turned aside” in this verse is exetrapēsan. The verb is ἐκτρέπω (ektrepō, “turn aside”), built from ἐκ (ek, “out”) and τρέπω (trepō, “turn”). With ὀπίσω (opisō, “behind” or “after”), the verse pictures a course turned away and then followed in a direction.
ALSO GROWS
ektrepō: turn aside, divert
ἐκτρέπω
This is the verb in the verse; its τ-ρ-π consonants preserve the root’s sense of turning, with ἐκ (“out”) marking a turn out of course.
anatrepō: overturn, upset
ἀνατρέπω
Its τ-ρ-π consonants carry the same turning action, now with the sense of turning something over.
tropē: turning, change
τροπή
Its consonants τ-ρ-π make the turn itself a noun, showing how the same root can name a change of course.
שָׂטָן
śāṭān
GROWS FROM
שׂטן
oppose, act as an adversary
“the Adversary” in this verse is śāṭān. The Greek σατανᾶς (satanas, “Satan”) carries the Hebrew name שָׂטָן (śāṭān, “adversary”). The name states a role, so the phrase describes going behind the one who opposes.
ALSO GROWS
śāṭan: act as an adversary; oppose
שָׂטַן
This verbal form shares the root’s שׂ-ט-ן consonants and expresses the adversarial action carried by the name.
haśśāṭān: the adversary
הַשָּׂטָן
The definite form keeps the same שׂ-ט-ן consonants; it presents the adversary as the particular one being followed here.
THE PATTERN
A turn is disclosed by the direction it takes and the one it follows.
Do not bend to the right or to the left; remove your foot from harm.And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long will you limp on two branches? If the LORD is God, walk after him, but if Baal, then walk after him. And the people answered him not a word.And they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to myths.THE THREAD
And they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to myths.Both verses use a form of ἐκτρέπω (ektrepō, “turn aside”). Here the turn is “after Satan”; in 2 Timothy, it is away from truth and toward fables, the destination reveals where the turn leads.
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