What Does Acts 15:15 Mean?
And with this the words of the prophets sound together, as it is written,
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 to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,THE KEY
The prophetic words do not merely match what is unfolding; they sound together with it.
THE MEANING
What is unfolding becomes legible as the prophetic words sound together with it. The comma leaves the sentence open, drawing attention to the writing that gives this resonance its shape.
THE ROOT
συμφωνοῦσιν
symphōnousin
GROWS FROM
φωνή (phōnē) in συμφωνέω (symphōneō), with σύν (syn)
To sound together; to be in accord.
“sound together” in this verse is symphōnousin. Συμφωνοῦσιν (symphōnousin, “they agree”) joins σύν (syn, “together”) with the φωνή (phōnē, “voice” or “sound”) word family. The verse pictures prophetic words as voices sounding in accord with what is unfolding.
ALSO GROWS
phōnē: Voice; sound.
φωνή
It is the sound or voice carried within the word for agreement.
symphōnia: Accord; harmony.
συμφωνία
This related word names the harmony that arises when voices sound together.
symphōnos: Harmonious; agreeing.
σύμφωνος
It describes the state of being in accord that the verb expresses.
γέγραπται
gegraptai
GROWS FROM
γράφω
graphō
To write; to inscribe.
Γέγραπται (gegraptai, “it is written”) is a perfect form: the writing has been set down and remains standing. The prophets’ words carry an enduring witness, and the open sentence leads directly into the writing that names it.
ALSO GROWS
graphē: Writing; scripture.
γραφή
It names the writing that stands behind the verse’s appeal.
gramma: Written mark; letter.
γράμμα
It shows the root’s connection to the marks that preserve words in writing.
THE PATTERN
A truth becomes legible as distinct witnesses and scriptural voices converge around it.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any crookedness, or for any falling short, in it he misses the mark; upon the mouth of two witnesses, or upon the mouth of three witnesses, the word shall stand.But now the alignment of God, apart from the instruction, has come into sight, being witnessed to by the instruction and the prophets.And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he carried them through all the writings, the things concerning himself.THE THREAD
Again, I say to you, that if two of you sound together on the earth concerning anything they ask for, it will come to be for them from my Father who is in the heavens.The verb translated “agree” is the same Greek word, συμφωνέω (symphōneō, “sound together”). In Acts, prophetic words sound together around what is unfolding; here, two people find accord, the same root gives both passages the image of voices in harmony.
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