What Does Acts 18:3 Mean?
And because he was of the same craft, he stayed with them and worked, for by their craft they were tentmakers.
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 because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.THE KEY
The word translated both “craft” and “occupation” comes from the same Greek root, so Paul’s shared work is also the reason he shares their home.
THE MEANING
A shared skill can make room for both work and belonging: the craft gives people a reason to stay together and a way to contribute. The verse holds dwelling and working side by side.
THE ROOT
ὁμότεχνον
homotechnon
GROWS FROM
τεχν-
techn-
Skill, craft, art.
The Greek names the shared craft as the reason Paul stays, then names the craft again when it explains their work as tent-makers. “Craft” and “occupation” are linked by the repeated τεχν- (techn-), shared skill becomes both a bond and a livelihood.
ALSO GROWS
technē: Skill, craft, or occupation.
τέχνη
This is the word used for their occupation, repeating the root in “same craft.”
technitēs: Artisan or skilled maker.
τεχνίτης
This related word names the person shaped by the same root of skilled making.
σκηνοποιοί
skēnopoioi
GROWS FROM
σκην-
skēn-
Tent, shelter, or tent-like dwelling.
“tentmakers” in this verse is skēnopoioi. The word combines σκηνή (skēnē, tent) with ποιέω (poieō, make): these are literally tent-makers. The σκην- (skēn-) family also supplies a Greek verb for dwelling in a tent, bringing the work of making shelter close to the act of dwelling.
ALSO GROWS
skēnē: Tent, shelter, or tabernacle.
σκηνή
This is the dwelling named within “tent-makers.”
skēnoō: To dwell in a tent, or to tabernacle.
σκηνόω
This related verb connects tent-making with dwelling among people.
THE PATTERN
Work connects people by sustaining both their own needs and the needs of others.
Two are better than one, because they have good wages for their toil.You yourselves know that these hands have served beneath my needs, and those with me.For you remember, brothers, our toil and our strain, working night and day so that we would not lay a weight on any of you, and we heralded to you the good news of God.THE THREAD
And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.John’s “dwelt” is σκηνόω (skēnoō), to dwell in a tent or tabernacle. Acts calls these workers σκηνοποιοί (skēnopoioi), tent-makers; their craft echoes the language of dwelling among people.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us