What Does Acts 10:22 Mean?
And they said, Cornelius the centurion, an aligned man, and one who lived in awe of God, and well witnessed by all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a set-apart messenger to send for you into his house, and to hear words from you.
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
And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.THE KEY
The holy messenger’s message is a sending: Cornelius is directed to summon a human voice so he can hear.
THE MEANING
You can live with integrity, stand in awe of God, and still be drawn into a new hearing. Here, the message reaches Cornelius through a messenger and directs him toward another person’s words. Awe and alignment do not close the path to further understanding.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a good name and an aligned life mean you have nothing more to hear; Cornelius’s integrity stands at the threshold of another voice.
THE ROOT
μεταπέμψασθαι
metapempsasthai
GROWS FROM
πέμπω (pempō; stem πεμπ-)
Send or dispatch; μεταπέμπω means to send for or summon.
“send for” in this verse is metapempsasthai. The instruction does not end with the heavenly message: it sends Cornelius to summon Peter and hear words from him. The Greek word carries the movement of dispatch within it, so the encounter unfolds through one person being sent to another.
ALSO GROWS
pempō: Send, dispatch
πέμπω
The base verb makes the sending in Cornelius’s instruction visible.
propempō: Send onward, escort
προπέμπω
The same word family can describe sending someone forward on a journey, extending the image of a message carried through people.
ἀγγέλου
angelou
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ-
angel-
Messenger; one who announces or carries a message.
“set-apart messenger” in this verse is angelou. The word translated “angel” is the Greek word for messenger. Its role is clear in the sentence: this messenger’s instruction sets another messenger in motion, carrying Cornelius toward the words he needs to hear.
ALSO GROWS
angelia: Message, announcement
ἀγγελία
The messenger and the message share a word family, joining the bearer to what is carried.
euangelion: Good message, good news
εὐαγγέλιον
The same announcement family appears in the word for good news, showing how a messenger’s work centers on what is conveyed.
δίκαιος
dikaios
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
Right, just, aligned.
“an aligned man” in this verse is dikaios. The Greek word family includes both the person described as just and δικαιοσύνη, rendered “alignment.” Cornelius’s aligned life appears alongside awe of God and good testimony, yet it still opens into hearing more.
ALSO GROWS
dikaiosynē: Alignment, righteousness
δικαιοσύνη
This related word names the quality expressed by the “just” person in the verse.
dikaioō: Set right, justify, declare just
δικαιόω
The same family also names the act of setting right, linking alignment with the work of making something right.
THE PATTERN
Divine instruction moves through people being sent to carry words from one person to another.
Now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here I am; send me.And Ananias went his way and entered the house, and setting his hands upon him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who was seen by you on the road as you came, has sent me, so that you might look up again and be filled with the Set-Apart Breath.THE THREAD
Then Jesus said to them again, Wholeness be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.The Greek word family for sending recurs here: Cornelius is told to send for Peter, and Jesus sends his followers. The shared root reveals a chain in which words travel through people who are sent.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us