What Does Acts 11:4 Mean?

But Peter began and set the matter out before them, one step after another, saying,

Acts 11:4 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying,

THE KEY

Peter sets the account out in sequence so its meaning can be seen in the path, not only in the conclusion.

THE MEANING

You encounter an account laid out step by step. Its meaning comes into view through the order of what happened, rather than through a bare conclusion.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The bare conclusion should be enough; the path that led to it does not matter.

THE ROOT

ἐξετίθετο

exetitheto

GROWS FROM

τίθημι

tithēmi

to put, place, or set

The Greek word translated “expounded” is built on the idea of setting something out. Peter places the account before his hearers in order, making its sequence visible along with its conclusion.

ALSO GROWS

ektithēmi: to set out, explain

ἐκτίθημι

This is the verb used here: the account is set out for the hearers.

epitithēmi: to put or lay upon

ἐπιτίθημι

This compound shares the root idea of placing; the added prefix changes the relation, while the common seed remains setting something in place.

THE PATTERN

An account becomes easier to understand when its parts are presented in their sequence.

It seemed good to me as well, having followed all things closely from the first, to write for you in sequence, most mighty Theophilus,

Luke 1:3 · SDVThe account is presented in order so its sequence can be followed.

And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the hardship that had found them on the way, and how the LORD snatched them free.

Exodus 18:8 · SDVThe telling gathers the events and hardship into a sequence that makes the deliverance visible.

Let all things become well shaped, and in rank.

1 Corinthians 14:40 · SDVOrder lets the shared life of the assembly become clear and intelligible.

THE THREAD

And when they had set a day for him, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he laid out and solemnly testified the governance of God, persuading them about Jesus from the instruction of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening.

Acts 28:23 · SDV

Acts 28:23 uses the same Greek verb translated “expounded”: the speaker sets the matter out before his hearers. The repeated word links understanding with making the account visible, piece by piece.

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