What Does Acts 21:12 Mean?
And when we heard these things, both we and those of that place were urging him not to go up to Jerusalem.
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 when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.THE KEY
The Greek verb for “go up” here is the same verb John uses when Jesus goes up to Jerusalem.
THE MEANING
Right now, you can hear concern gather into a collective plea: the people around Paul ask him not to go to Jerusalem. Their fear is plain in the urgency of the request.
THE ROOT
ἀναβαίνειν
anabainein
GROWS FROM
βαίνω
To step or go; with ἀνά (ana, up), ἀναβαίνω means to go up or ascend.
“go up” in this verse is anabainein. English gives the movement two words, while Greek uses one verb built on βαίνω (bainō, step or go) with ἀνά (ana, up). John 2:13 uses this same verb for Jesus going up to Jerusalem, linking the two passages through the wording of ascent.
ALSO GROWS
anabainō: Go up, ascend.
ἀναβαίνω
This is the verb in the verse: the plea is specifically that Paul not make the ascent to Jerusalem.
katabainō: Go down, descend.
καταβαίνω
Its prefix points the movement downward, making the directional force of the shared stem visible.
diabainō: Cross over, pass through.
διαβαίνω
The same movement-root can describe going across, showing how βαίνω carries the idea of movement from one place toward another.
παρεκαλοῦμεν
parekaloumen
GROWS FROM
καλέω
To call or summon; παρακαλέω (parakaleō) means to appeal, urge, or comfort.
“were urging him not to” in this verse is parekaloumen. The word translated “besought” is an active appeal, not a detached warning. The same word family can carry urging or comfort, so the plea holds both pressure and concern.
ALSO GROWS
parakaleō: Urge, appeal to; comfort.
παρακαλέω
This is the verb family behind the group’s urgent request to Paul.
paraklēsis: Appeal, encouragement, comfort.
παράκλησις
This related noun shows how a call made toward someone can carry either urging or support.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שָׁלוֹם
Wholeness, completeness.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The Hebrew name Yerushalayim carries shalom, wholeness, with the dual ending -ayim. The plea gathers around a destination named with wholeness even as the journey toward it is contested.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, completeness.
שָׁלוֹם
This is the word-family echo carried in Jerusalem’s Hebrew name.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This related form makes the sense of completeness within the name more visible.
THE PATTERN
When someone moves toward danger, people who care about them voice the risk as a warning or plea.
And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you; now therefore, I pray you, keep watch over yourself until the morning, and settle in a hiding place, and hide yourself.His disciples said to him, Teacher, the Jews just now sought to stone you, and are you going there again?Then Paul answered, What are you doing, weeping and crushing my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the nature of the Lord Jesus.THE THREAD
And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.John uses the same Greek verb, ἀναβαίνω (anabainō, go up), for Jesus going to Jerusalem. Here people plead against Paul’s ascent; there the same movement is stated directly, making Jerusalem a recurring destination in the language of going up.
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