What Does Acts 22:14 Mean?
And he said, The God of our fathers has taken you in hand, to know his will, to perceive that Aligned One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.
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 he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.THE KEY
Being chosen opens into knowing God’s will by perceiving the aligned one and hearing the voice that speaks.
THE MEANING
Here, being chosen opens you into relationship: you know what God wills, perceive the aligned one, and hear the voice from its source. Knowing, seeing, and hearing belong together; divine direction arrives through encounter, not as detached information.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that being chosen is only a rank or label: here, choosing opens into what becomes perceptible, the will, the aligned one, and the speaking voice.
THE ROOT
γνῶναι
gnōnai
GROWS FROM
γινωσκ-
ginōsk-
To know, come to know, or recognize.
“to know” in this verse is gnōnai. The Greek family includes both knowing and what is known. Here that knowing is joined to seeing the Just One and hearing a voice, so it reads as recognition through encounter, not information held at a distance.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: Knowledge, understanding
γνῶσις
It shows the same family naming what comes to be known, while the verse describes knowing as part of a wider encounter.
gnōstos: Known, familiar
γνωστός
This branch brings out the relational shade of knowing: what is known is no longer unknown or distant.
τὸν δίκαιον
ton dikaion
GROWS FROM
δικ-
dik-
Rightness and justice; alignment with what is right.
“Just One” can sound like an honorific, but the Greek word belongs to a family naming rightness, alignment, and the act of setting right. Seeing this one is therefore also perceiving alignment embodied.
ALSO GROWS
dikaios: Just, right, aligned
δίκαιος
This is the adjective used here for the one whose alignment is seen.
dikaiosynē: Justice, righteousness, alignment
δικαιοσύνη
The related noun names the quality that the Just One embodies.
dikaioō: To justify, declare or treat as right
δικαιόω
This verb shows the family extending from alignment as a quality to the act of setting something right.
THE PATTERN
Divine direction is received through an encounter that joins inward knowing, perception, and hearing.
I delight to do what pleases you, O my God, and your instruction is within my inward parts.And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears and responds.My sheep hear and respond to my voice, and I perceive them, and they follow me.THE THREAD
And this is the life of the ages, that they might know you, the only God of truth, and Jesus, the Anointed One, whom you have sent.The same Greek verb for “know,” γινώσκω (ginōskō), appears in both verses. John places this knowing at the center of life with God and the one sent, opening Acts’ sequence as lived recognition rather than information alone.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us