What Does Acts 25:4 Mean?
But Festus answered that Paul should be guarded at Caesarea, and that he himself would set out there swiftly.
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
But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Cæsarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither.THE KEY
The verb for Paul being “kept” also describes protective keeping, so the word names custody while leaving its purpose to the keeper.
THE MEANING
Paul remains held at Cæsarea as Festus moves toward him. When your own place is fixed by another person’s decision, movement can still be happening around you; the confinement itself remains real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that confinement means the whole situation is motionless: Paul is still held, but Festus is already moving toward Cæsarea.
THE ROOT
τηρεῖσθαι
tēreisthai
GROWS FROM
τηρ-
tēr-
to keep watch, guard, preserve, or hold in custody
“guarded” in this verse is tēreisthai. This Greek stem names watchful holding: it can mean keeping a person in custody or preserving someone in care. Here the holding restrains Paul; the verb does not soften that restraint or decide what the keeper will do next.
ALSO GROWS
tērēsis: custody; a keeping or guarding
τήρησις
In Acts 4:3, this word family names the custody in which the apostles are held, making the force of “kept” concrete.
tēreō: to keep or guard
τηρέω
In John 17:11, the same verb asks the Father to keep the disciples; the root carries both custody and protection.
THE PATTERN
Keeping is a form of holding or guarding, and its effect depends on the keeper’s purpose.
But Festus answered that Paul should be guarded at Caesarea, and that he himself would set out there swiftly.And now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Set-Apart Father, keep them in your own nature, those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are.The LORD watches over you from all harm; he watches over your living soul.THE THREAD
And now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Set-Apart Father, keep them in your own nature, those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are.“Keep” in both verses comes from the same Greek verb, tēreō: Paul is held under custody, while Jesus asks the Father to keep his own. The root holds both meanings; the keeper and purpose shape whether that holding restrains or protects.
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