What Does Acts 19:10 Mean?
And this went on for two years, so that all who settled in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
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 this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.THE KEY
The word reaches beyond its first circle by passing from hearer to hearer.
THE MEANING
A message is not bounded by the place where it is first spoken; it can pass through hearers until it reaches people beyond the first circle. Here, everyone dwelling in Asia hears the word of the Lord Jesus.
THE ROOT
λόγος
logos
GROWS FROM
λεγ-
leg-
To say or speak; to give words or an account.
The Greek word here is λόγον, an inflected form of λόγος (logos), which carries the sense of a spoken word or message. Its root family keeps the message connected to speech: it travels beyond its first speaker because other people hear it and carry it onward.
ALSO GROWS
legō: say, speak
λέγω
This verbal form shows the spoken action at the seed of the word carried through the region.
logion: a saying, oracle
λόγιον
This branch keeps the sense of a message spoken and received, rather than a word confined to a page.
ἀκούω
akouō
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
To hear or listen.
“heard” in this verse is akouō. The verse measures the word’s reach through hearing: the message arrives across a region as people receive it. The same root family extends from hearing and report to responsive listening, though this verse says that all hear, not that all respond alike.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: hearing; a report
ἀκοή
A report is something that travels by being heard, echoing how the message reaches people beyond its first circle.
hypakoē: obedience; responsive listening
ὑπακοή
This branch shows how hearing can open into response, while preserving the distinction between hearing and responding in this verse.
THE PATTERN
A message travels beyond its first circle when it is carried from hearer to hearer.
Their measuring cord goes out through all the earth, and their words to the edge of the world; in them he set a tent for the sun.But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, indeed, their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the inhabited earth.And the good news must first be cried out among all nations.THE THREAD
So with strength the word of God grew and was strong.This verse uses the same Greek word, λόγος (logos), translated “word.” Here the word is pictured as growing and prevailing; that image opens Acts 19:10 further, where its reach is measured by how many people hear it.
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