What Does Acts 20:13 Mean?
And we went ahead to the ship, and put out for Assos, there intending to take Paul aboard; for so he had set it in order, he himself meaning to go on foot.
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 we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.THE KEY
The travelers move by different means, yet a deliberate arrangement holds their journeys together toward one meeting.
THE MEANING
A shared direction can hold different routes: some travel by ship, while Paul himself goes on foot. Your pace or path can differ from those around you and still belong to a shared meeting. The verse holds the difference inside an intentional arrangement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that taking a different route or pace means you have fallen out of a shared purpose.
THE ROOT
διατεταγμένος
diatetagmenos
GROWS FROM
τάσσω
tassō
to set in place, arrange, appoint
“set it in order” in this verse is diatetagmenos. The Greek carries the sense of an arranged course: the others sail, while Paul himself is set to go on foot. The root also appears in words for order and arrangement, showing that their different means of travel belong to a deliberate plan.
ALSO GROWS
taxis: order, arrangement
τάξις
This branch shows that the root can describe how things are ordered, not only an appointment given to someone.
diatagē: ordinance, arrangement
διαταγή
The verse’s arranged route belongs to the same family of words that names an established order.
ἀναλαμβάνειν
analambanein
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
to take, receive
“take Paul aboard” in this verse is analambanein. The journey is arranged around receiving Paul at Assos. The next verse repeats this root in a different compound: the planned taking in becomes his being taken along with the group.
ALSO GROWS
paralambanō: receive alongside, take along
παραλαμβάνω
This is the related verb used when the group takes Paul in at Assos in the next verse.
katalambanō: take hold of, reach, overtake
καταλαμβάνω
This branch keeps the root’s sense of actively taking hold, clarifying that the verse describes a planned act of receiving.
THE PATTERN
A shared destination can coordinate people whose pace, path, or means of travel differ.
And Rebekah rose, and her young women, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man; and the servant took Rebekah, and went on his road.The two of them ran together, and the other disciple ran ahead of Peter, and came first to the tomb.And when he came together with us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene.THE THREAD
And when he came together with us at Assos, we took him aboard, and came to Mitylene.The plan to “take in” Paul uses ἀναλαμβάνω (analambanō, take up or receive), and the next verse says they “took him in” with παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō, receive alongside or take along). Both compounds share λαμβάνω (lambanō, take or receive): the arranged meeting becomes a reunion.
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