What Does Acts 1:14 Mean?
These all held fast with one passion in prayer and pleading, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
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
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.THE KEY
“One accord” carries the sense of a shared inward passion, so this gathering is more than people agreeing: distinct people are drawn into one movement of prayer.
THE MEANING
Prayer here is sustained together: distinct people gather their attention and their requests in one direction. The women, Mary, and Jesus’ brothers are named within that shared life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that prayer belongs only to isolated individuals: here it is a shared practice that holds people together.
THE ROOT
ὁμοθυμαδόν
homothymadon
GROWS FROM
θύμος
Inner impulse, ardor, or heat.
“with one passion” in this verse is homothymadon. The compound joins ὁμός (homos, “same”) with θυμός (thymos, “inner impulse or ardor”): “one accord” carries a shared inward movement, more than matching opinions. Related words can describe cheerfulness and eagerness, so this common impulse is felt and willing.
ALSO GROWS
euthymos: Of good cheer, encouraged.
εὔθυμος
The shared root can describe a lifted inner state, showing that this accord has felt energy, not just intellectual agreement.
prothymia: Readiness, eagerness.
προθυμία
The same root can describe willing readiness, illuminating how a shared inward impulse can become active participation.
THE PATTERN
A shared inward focus gathers distinct people into sustained devotion and a common voice.
A Song of degrees of David. Look, how good and how sweet it is for brothers to settle also together!And they, holding fast day by day with one passion in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, took their food with gladness and singleness of heart.So that with one passion and one mouth you may give weight to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.THE THREAD
So that with one passion and one mouth you may give weight to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.The Greek phrase translated “with one mind” uses the same word, ὁμοθυμαδόν (homothymadon), as “with one accord” here. In Acts, the shared impulse gathers people in prayer; in Romans, it becomes one common voice.
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