What Does Acts 13:46 Mean?
Then Paul and Barnabas, with full voice, said, It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you push it away from yourselves, and judge yourselves not weighing enough for the life of the ages, look, we turn to the Gentiles.
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
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.THE KEY
The verse locates the verdict of unworthiness in the act of pushing the word away: the word is offered, and you judge yourself by refusing it.
THE MEANING
God’s word reaches you as something spoken. When you push it away, you judge yourself unworthy of the life of the ages, and the message turns toward the nations. The verse places refusal and self-judgment in the same movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that “unworthy” is simply a label placed on you from outside: the verse says you judge yourself unworthy as you push the word away.
THE ROOT
ἀπωθεῖσθε
apōtheisthe
GROWS FROM
ὠθέω (ōtheō), with ἀπό (apo)
ὠθέω means to push or thrust; with ἀπό, “away,” the word means to push away or reject.
“push it away from yourselves” in this verse is apōtheisthe. “Put it from you” carries the force of a push, not merely a failure to receive. The verb assigns that refusal to those addressed: they push the word away, then judge themselves unworthy.
ALSO GROWS
ōtheō: to push, thrust
ὠθέω
Its physical force gives “put it from you” the image of actively pushing the word aside.
apōtheō: to push away, reject
ἀπωθέω
This compound carries the same force into the act of rejection named in the verse.
αἰωνίου
aiōniou
GROWS FROM
αἰών
aiōn
An age or era; αἰώνιος describes what belongs to an age or ages.
The word behind “everlasting” stays anchored to αἰών, “age.” The phrase opens onto the life of the ages, rather than leaving “everlasting” as an abstract measure of time.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: age, era
αἰών
This is the seed word beneath the phrase translated “everlasting life.”
aiōnios: belonging to an age; age-long
αἰώνιος
This adjective describes the life the verse says the hearers judge themselves unworthy of.
κρίνετε
krinete
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
To distinguish, decide, or judge.
“judge yourselves” in this verse is krinete. The verb places the judgment in the hearers’ own act: they are the ones who judge themselves unworthy. That makes the refusal more than a rejection of a message; it becomes their verdict about their relation to the life offered.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
The shared root shows that judging carries the force of making a decision.
kritēs: judge
κριτής
The person who judges shares the same root as the act the hearers turn upon themselves.
THE PATTERN
A life-giving word can be refused, and that refusal exposes the hearer’s own judgment about life.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.Because I call out and you refuse; I stretch out my hand, and no one bends an ear.And this is the sifting, that the light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil.THE THREAD
The one who sets me aside and does not take in my words has the one who judges him. That same word I have spoken will judge him in the last day.Both verses use λόγος (logos, “word”): here the word is pushed away, and in John the rejected word is named as the judge. What is refused becomes the measure by which that refusal is seen.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us