What Does Acts 20:5 Mean?
These went on ahead and stayed for us at Troas.
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
These going before tarried for us at Troas.THE KEY
The same root that means “remain” also names an abiding place: those who go ahead hold a place open for those following.
THE MEANING
Some move ahead while others are still coming, and the first group stays at Troas for them. Progress here includes waiting together; the pause keeps the journey shared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This loosens the belief that moving forward means leaving everyone else behind: those ahead can stay for those still on the way.
THE ROOT
ἔμενον
emenon
GROWS FROM
μεν-
men-
Remain, stay, continue.
“stayed” in this verse is emenon. The Greek verb behind “tarried” belongs to the same word family as “abiding” and “dwelling place.” The pause is not empty time: it can hold a place where others arrive and join you.
ALSO GROWS
monē: A dwelling place, an abode.
μονή
This noun from the same word family shows how remaining can become a place of welcome and presence.
paramenō: Remain alongside; continue.
παραμένω
The compound makes the shared quality of staying visible: one remains with another, as the group ahead stays for those following.
THE PATTERN
A shared path includes pauses that hold a place for others.
Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud lengthened over the dwelling, settling upon it, the children of Israel settled in their tents and did not pull up; but when it was lifted, they pulled up.He said to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he stayed, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.So, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.THE THREAD
He said to them, Come and see. They came and saw where he stayed, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.“Tarried” and “abode” are forms of μένω (menō), meaning remain or stay. The shared root links waiting for companions with abiding together: the pause becomes a place where people meet.
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