What Does Acts 20:10 Mean?
And Paul came down and fell upon him, and enfolding him, said, "Do not make an uproar, for his living soul is in him."
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 Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.THE KEY
The Greek word for “trouble” names an uproar, so Paul meets the crowd’s eruption with a claim that the boy’s life is still in him.
THE MEANING
The room is in upheaval over the boy’s fall, and Paul’s embrace comes with a direct claim: his living self is still in him. The verse keeps life attached to the boy himself, rather than making it an idea apart from the body before them. The feared loss has not become final.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A body lying still proves that life is gone beyond recovery.
THE ROOT
θορυβεῖσθε
thorubeisthe
GROWS FROM
θορυβ-
Uproar, tumult, disturbance.
“Do not make an uproar” in this verse is thorubeisthe. English “trouble” can sound like private worry, while θορυβέω names noise and upheaval. The command addresses the room’s collective eruption as Paul says the boy’s life remains within him.
ALSO GROWS
thorubos: Uproar, tumult
θόρυβος
This noun makes the noise inside “trouble” visible: the crowd’s response is an upheaval around the boy’s fall.
thorubeō: To stir up a tumult or disturb
θορυβέω
This verb is the word family of Paul’s command and appears in Mark’s question about making an ado around another apparent death.
ψυχή
psychē
GROWS FROM
ψυχ-
The living self; a person, soul, or life.
“living soul” in this verse is psychē. The English “life” can sound like an abstract force, but ψυχή names the living self or person. Here Paul places it concretely “in him,” asserting that the boy himself is still living.
ALSO GROWS
psychikos: Natural; belonging to the living self
ψυχικός
This adjective shares the ψυχ- stem and shows the word family can describe ordinary human life.
apsychos: Lifeless; without life
ἄψυχος
This related form names the opposite condition, sharpening Paul’s claim that the boy’s life is still in him.
THE PATTERN
Scripture sets the appearance of death beside a word that names life as present or still promised.
And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why make this uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeps."Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.Jesus said to her, I am the rising, and the life. Whoever leans their weight into me, even if they die, will live.THE THREAD
And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why make this uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeps."Mark uses the same Greek word family as “trouble” here: Jesus asks why the people are making an uproar around the girl. In both scenes, the crowd’s commotion meets a declaration that life has not ended.
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