What Does Acts 21:14 Mean?
And when he would not be moved, we fell silent, saying, Let the will of the Lord come to be.
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 he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.THE KEY
When persuasion reaches its limit, the group grows quiet and names the Lord’s will as what is to come into being.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the moment when another person remains unconvinced: the pressure to keep persuading falls quiet, and the Lord’s will is spoken of as what may come to pass. The group does not claim to control the outcome; it places the outcome in the Lord’s hands.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that caring for someone means pressing until they change their mind.
THE ROOT
γενέσθω
ginesthō
GROWS FROM
γίνομαι
ginomai
Become, happen, or come into being.
“come to be” in this verse is ginesthō. The verb translated “be done” carries the sense of becoming or happening. The words ask for the Lord’s will to come into being; they do not describe the group making it happen by force.
ALSO GROWS
genesis: Origin, birth, or coming into being.
γένεσις
It shares the language of becoming, making the prayer sound like the arrival of what is willed.
genos: Kind, family, or lineage.
γένος
It uses the same word family to speak of what comes forth as a kind or lineage.
ἡσυχάσαμεν
hēsychasamen
GROWS FROM
ἡσυχάζω
hēsychazō
Be quiet or become still.
“fell silent” in this verse is hēsychasamen. The Greek verb pictures the group quieting down after its effort to persuade has not moved him. English “ceased” names the stopping; the Greek also lets us hear the silence that follows.
ALSO GROWS
hēsychia: Quietness or stillness.
ἡσυχία
This related noun makes the quiet in their response explicit.
hēsychios: Quiet or peaceable.
ἡσύχιος
This related adjective describes a settled quiet, echoing the shift from urging to accepting the outcome.
πειθομένου
peithomenou
GROWS FROM
πείθω
peithō
Persuade, convince, or bring to trust; its forms can also carry the sense of obeying.
“moved” in this verse is peithomenou. The word family can move from convincing someone to the confidence or obedience that follows. Here the attempt to produce that change reaches its limit, and the group falls silent.
ALSO GROWS
pepoithēsis: Confidence or assurance.
πεποίθησις
This related noun shows the trust or confidence associated with being persuaded.
peitharcheō: Obey authority.
πειθαρχέω
This compound retains the persuasion word family and shows its connection to yielding or obeying.
THE PATTERN
When human insistence reaches its limit, the Lord’s will is named as what is to come into being.
Let your governance come. Let your will be done on the ground, as it is in heaven.Saying, Father, if you are willing, carry this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.Then I said, Look, I have come. In the head of the scroll it is written of me, to do your will, O God.THE THREAD
Saying, Father, if you are willing, carry this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.Luke uses the same Greek verb, γενέσθω (ginesthō), translated “be done” here, alongside θέλημα (thelēma), “will.” The shared wording makes Acts’ quiet response part of the same movement: the Lord’s will is spoken as what may come into being.
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