What Does Acts 15:13 Mean?
And after they had fallen silent, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, give ear to me.
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 after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:THE KEY
The “peace” before James speaks is silence, and that silence makes room for a voice that asks the whole assembly to listen.
THE MEANING
The assembly falls quiet; James addresses its members as brothers and asks them to hear him. The verse holds the shift from many voices to one voice asking for shared attention. It lets you see silence as the moment before listening becomes deliberate.
THE ROOT
σιγῆσαι
sigēsai
GROWS FROM
σιγ-
sig-
to be silent
“fallen silent” in this verse is sigēsai. Under the KJV idiom “held their peace” is the Greek verb σιγάω (sigáō, “be silent; keep silent”). The verse begins with quiet, not a claim about harmony or wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
sigē: silence
σιγή
The related noun names the quiet that precedes James’s speech.
sigáō: be silent; keep silent
σιγάω
This verb names the action in the verse: the assembly is quiet before James replies.
ἀκούσατέ
akoúsate
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
to hear, listen
“give ear” in this verse is akoúsate. James’s request is not merely that the assembly notice a sound; he asks them to give him their hearing. The same root can appear in words that extend hearing toward heeding, while this verse itself asks for attention.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: hearing; report
ἀκοή
This related noun can name hearing itself or what is heard, linking reception with a message.
hypakoúō: listen to; heed; obey
ὑπακούω
This compound shows hearing extending toward heeding, though James’s request here is simply to hear him.
THE PATTERN
Shared silence can make space for a voice to be heard.
Then the whole crowd kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul, telling what signs and wonders God had made among the nations by them.Prick up your ears, Job, and hear and respond to me; hush, and I will speak.Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to swell.THE THREAD
Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to swell.Both verses use the Greek root ἀκου- (akou-, “hear, listen”): here James asks the assembly to hear him, while James 1:19 calls the reader swift to hear. The shared root makes listening the hinge between the quiet and the next words.
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