What Does Acts 16:30 Mean?
And he led them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be delivered?
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 brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?THE KEY
The jailer asks how he can be brought out just after he has brought the prisoners out.
THE MEANING
You can bring someone else out of danger and still recognize your own need to be brought out. “Saved” carries the sense of deliverance and being brought safely through. Rescue becomes personal: not only what happens before your eyes, but what can happen to you.
THE ROOT
σωθῶ
sōthō
GROWS FROM
σωζ-
sōz-
Rescue, deliver, bring safely through.
The Greek verb is passive here: the question is about being delivered. The word holds the force of rescue, and the verse places it beside an actual leading out of danger.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēria: Deliverance; being brought to safety.
σωτηρία
This noun shares the verb’s rescue sense and makes deliverance more than a label: it is being brought through danger.
sōtēr: Deliverer; one who brings to safety.
σωτήρ
This branch names the one who brings another through danger, the person the jailer is asking about.
προαγαγὼν αὐτοὺς ἔξω
proagagōn autous exō
GROWS FROM
ἀγ- (ag-, in ἄγω / agō)
Lead or bring; here, lead them forward outside.
“led them out” in this verse is proagagōn autous exō. The phrase means “having led them forward outside.” The jailer performs this movement for the prisoners, then asks whether he too can be led out.
ALSO GROWS
exagō: Lead out, bring forth.
ἐξάγω
This compound uses the same “lead” root to name movement from inside to outside, echoing the action in the verse.
prosagō: Bring near, lead toward.
προσάγω
This branch shows the root can also describe movement toward someone or something, giving “being led” a direction.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance appears as being brought out of a constricting condition into freedom and safety.
He brings them out of darkness and the valley of deepest darkness, and tears their bonds apart.So if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free.For everyone who calls upon the nature of the LORD will be delivered.THE THREAD
And they said, Lean your weight on the Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, and you will be delivered, you and your house.Both verses use the Greek verb σώζω (sōzō, deliver), linking the jailer’s question to the reply. Verse 31 names trust in the Lord Jesus as the response to his question about deliverance.
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