What Does Acts 16:14 Mean?
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who stood in awe of God, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart wide, and she held fast to the things Paul spoke.
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 a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.THE KEY
The verse places attention downstream of opening: Lydia leans toward the words because her heart has first been opened.
THE MEANING
The Lord opens your heart, and hearing can become attentive reception: you turn toward what is being spoken. The verse holds both together: the opening comes from the Lord, and attention is your response.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that you must force yourself open before the word can reach you dissolves here: Lydia attends after the Lord opens her heart.
THE ROOT
διήνοιξεν
diēnoixen from dianoigō
GROWS FROM
διά + ἀνοίγω (dia + anoigō)
Open through or fully; the compound emphasizes opening up.
“opened wide” in this verse is diēnoixen from dianoigō. The Lord does not supply Lydia with a different message; he opens her heart to receive what is being spoken. The same verb describes understanding being opened, making comprehension an unveiling of access.
ALSO GROWS
anoigō: To open.
ἀνοίγω
This is the base verb within dianoigō; it keeps the image concrete, like opening a door.
dianoigō: To open fully; to open understanding.
διανοίγω
Luke uses this same verb when Jesus opens the disciples’ understanding, showing that the opening reaches inward perception as well as outward access.
προσέχειν
prosechein from prosechō
GROWS FROM
ἔχω (echō), with πρός (pros, toward)
To hold or have; with pros, to hold toward.
“held fast to” in this verse is prosechein from prosechō. “Attended unto” carries the image of directing and holding attention toward something. The opening of Lydia’s heart takes shape as a turn toward the spoken words.
ALSO GROWS
echō: To have or hold.
ἔχω
This base verb gives “attend” its sense of holding attention rather than merely hearing sound.
prosechō: To attend, give heed, or hold toward.
προσέχω
This is the verb behind Lydia’s response: her attention is directed toward what is being spoken.
THE PATTERN
Receptive understanding begins with an opening that makes room for the word to be attended to.
Uncover my eyes, that I may gaze upon the wonders from your instruction.Then he threw open their minds, so that they might put the writings together.And when they had arrived and gathered the assembly together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of trust to the nations.THE THREAD
Then he threw open their minds, so that they might put the writings together.Luke uses the same Greek verb, διανοίγω (dianoigō), meaning “to open fully,” for Jesus opening the disciples’ understanding. In both verses, attentive perception follows an opening: Lydia attends to spoken words, and the disciples understand scripture.
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