What Does Acts 13:17 Mean?
The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and lifted up the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a raised arm he brought them out of it.
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
The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.THE KEY
The Greek repeats its height-root in “exalted” and “high arm,” binding the people’s elevation to the very arm that brings them out.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now in two linked movements: a person can be raised while the surrounding place remains constricted, and release carries that movement outward. Egypt bears the name Mitzrayim, the two narrows; the sentence does not leave the people inside them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must already be free or settled to be lifted: the verse places exaltation in the very season of dwelling as strangers.
THE ROOT
ὕψωσεν
hypsōsen
GROWS FROM
ὑψόω
hypsoō
to raise high, lift up
“lifted up” in this verse is hypsōsen. The Greek word for “exalted” shares its height-root with “high” in “high arm.” English separates the people’s elevation from the arm’s height, while the Greek echoes one in the other.
ALSO GROWS
hypsēlos: high, lofty
ὑψηλός
This is the adjective describing the arm in the same verse, repeating the height-root beside the people’s being raised.
hypsos: height, elevation
ὕψος
It makes the shared root’s image concrete: elevation is built into the line’s language of height.
ἐξήγαγεν
exēgagen
GROWS FROM
ἄγω
agō
to lead, bring
“brought them out” in this verse is exēgagen. The Greek verb joins ἐξ, “out,” to ἄγω, “lead”: the people are led out, not merely moved away. Release carries direction, opening a path beyond the place that confines them.
ALSO GROWS
agōgē: leading, guidance
ἀγωγή
It keeps the root’s sense of movement under guidance, illuminating the verb’s image of being led out.
apagōgē: leading away, removal
ἀπαγωγή
It shows how the same root can describe movement away from a place, echoing the people’s exit from Egypt.
מִצְרַיִם
Mitsrayim
GROWS FROM
צרר
tsarar
to be narrow, press in, bind
Mitzrayim carries the image of the two narrows, so Egypt names constriction as well as a place. Here, being led out is movement from narrowness toward spaciousness.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: narrow, tight
צַר
This gives the name its core image of constriction.
metsar: a narrow place, straits
מֵצָר
This branch makes the place-like image explicit and illuminates the verse’s movement out of Mitzrayim.
THE PATTERN
Release begins while constriction remains, opens into a larger place, and continues as a living movement.
Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the loads of the Egyptians, and I will snatch you from their service, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.He brings me out into a broad place; he pulls me loose, because he delights in me.Who brought us out of so great a death, and brings us out; in whom we hope that he will yet bring us out.THE THREAD
He brings me out into a broad place; he pulls me loose, because he delights in me.In the Greek, Acts’ ἐξήγαγεν and the Septuagint form behind “brought me forth” share ἐξάγω (exagō), “lead out.” Psalm makes the destination explicit: the one led out enters a large place, revealing the spaciousness in the movement of release.
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