What Does Acts 15:30 Mean?
So when they were let go, they went down to Antioch, and when they had gathered the crowd together, they handed over the letter.
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
So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:THE KEY
The message becomes shared when it is handed from its carriers to the gathered multitude.
THE MEANING
The verse shows a message moving from the hands of its bearers into the reach of a gathered people. Its delivery places the message before the community, where they can receive it together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A message meant for a community belongs only to the few who carry it.
THE ROOT
ἐπέδωκαν
epedōkan
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
to give, grant, or hand over
“handed over” in this verse is epedōkan. The verb translated “delivered” is a form of ἐπιδίδωμι, built on δίδωμι: to give over. The letter passes into the gathered people’s reach, becoming something they can receive together.
ALSO GROWS
apodidōmi: to give back, render, or repay
ἀποδίδωμι
This branch shows the root’s sense of transferring something into another’s hands.
paradidōmi: to hand over or deliver
παραδίδωμι
This branch makes explicit the passing of something entrusted from one person to another.
συναγαγόντες
synagagontes
GROWS FROM
ἄγω
agō
to lead or bring
“gathered” in this verse is synagagontes. The word for gathering joins συν-, “together,” with ἄγω, “bring.” The multitude is brought together into the space where the letter is handed over.
ALSO GROWS
synagōgē: a gathering or assembly
συναγωγή
The same bring-together root names an assembly: people gathered into one place.
apagōgē: a leading away or departure
ἀπαγωγή
This branch retains the root’s movement of leading, showing how ἄγω carries the sense of bringing people from one place or condition to another.
THE PATTERN
A message entrusted to a gathered people is received in common.
When all Israel comes to see the face of the LORD your God in the place he will choose, you will call out this instruction before all Israel, in their ears.And he called aloud from it before the wide place that was before the gate of the waters, from first light until the middle of the day, facing the men and the women, and those who could tell the difference, and the ears of all the people were turned toward the book of the instruction.I bind you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the set-apart brothers.THE THREAD
Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the comfort.The letter handed to the gathered people here is read in the next verse, and its reception opens into rejoicing. Delivery reaches its purpose as the community receives the words.
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