What Does Acts 16:2 Mean?

He was well witnessed of by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium.

Acts 16:2 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.

THE KEY

The verse makes reputation a form of shared seeing: a life becomes known through testimony carried by more than one community.

THE MEANING

Your character becomes visible through the testimony of people who have encountered your life, not only through the account you give of yourself. When that witness converges across communities, it carries the texture of shared knowledge.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that self-description alone can make character credible dissolves here: trustworthiness is also known through the witness of others.

THE ROOT

ἐμαρτυρεῖτο

emartyreito

GROWS FROM

μαρτυρ-

martyr-

To witness or testify; to make something known through testimony.

“well witnessed of” in this verse is emartyreito. The word translated “reported” carries the sense of testimony: Timothy’s character is borne witness to by people who know him. English can make this sound like general reputation, while the Greek connects it to the act of testifying.

ALSO GROWS

martys: witness

μάρτυς

A witness is someone whose testimony makes what they have seen or know present to others.

martyria: testimony, witness

μαρτυρία

This noun shows that the same root names both the act of bearing witness and the testimony it leaves.

martyreō: to witness, testify

μαρτυρέω

This verb is the root form behind the verse’s “reported,” making the report an act of witness.

ἀδελφῶν

adelphōn

GROWS FROM

ἀδελφ-

adelph-

Sibling or brother; kin joined as family.

“brothers” in this verse is adelphōn. The testimony comes from “brethren,” a word rooted in siblinghood. The verse places this witness inside a community of kin, so the report is shared recognition among people connected to one another.

ALSO GROWS

adelphē: sister

ἀδελφή

The feminine form shows that the family-root names siblings across gender.

adelphotēs: brotherhood, sibling community

ἀδελφότης

This branch extends the same root from individual siblings to a community bound by kinship.

THE PATTERN

A person’s credibility becomes trustworthy when others who encounter that life can attest to it.

Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.

Proverbs 27:2 · SDVThe verse places a person’s praise in another’s mouth, echoing the weight of testimony that comes from beyond the self.

Now, brothers, look out among you seven men of good witness, full of the Set-Apart Breath and wisdom, whom we may set over this need.

Acts 6:3 · SDVThe community’s witness to these men’s character is part of what makes them fit to be entrusted with responsibility.

And he must hold a good witness from those outside, lest he fall into mockery and the snare of the Slanderer.

1 Timothy 3:7 · SDVA person’s conduct is also legible to people outside the immediate community, whose testimony carries real weight.

THE THREAD

Now, brothers, look out among you seven men of good witness, full of the Set-Apart Breath and wisdom, whom we may set over this need.

Acts 6:3 · SDV

“Honest report” translates a form of the same Greek witness-root as “reported” in Acts 16:2. The shared root ties reputation to testimony that can support the trust others place in a person.

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.

Get Selah Verse

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