What Does Acts 26:1 Mean?
Then Agrippa said to Paul, You are given the turn to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself.
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
Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:THE KEY
The verb for permission also carries the sense of entrusting, so Paul receives room to give his own account.
THE MEANING
You have room to speak on your own behalf; your voice enters as an answer and an account. The extended hand makes the beginning of that speech visible. The verse leaves the content of your defense with you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you have no standing to speak in your own defense is undone by the permission itself.
THE ROOT
ἐπιτρέπεται
epitrepetai
GROWS FROM
τρέπ-
Turn or direct; in ἐπιτρέπω (epitrepō), the word also means to allow or entrust.
“given the turn” in this verse is epitrepetai. The verb carries both permission and entrustment. Paul is given space to speak, with the account itself left in his hands.
ALSO GROWS
epitrepō: Allow, permit, or entrust
ἐπιτρέπω
This is the verb behind Agrippa’s permission for Paul to speak.
epitropos: Steward, guardian, or manager
ἐπίτροπος
This related word names someone entrusted with oversight, echoing the responsibility held within permission.
ἀπελογεῖτο
apēlogeito
GROWS FROM
λογ-
Say or speak; the word and account expressed through the λόγος (logos) family.
“answered for himself” in this verse is apēlogeito. The Greek verb carries the sense of making a defense, giving more shape to the English “answered.” Its relation to λόγος (logos, word or account) presents Paul’s response as a considered account offered on his own behalf.
ALSO GROWS
logos: Word, account, or reason
λόγος
This root family connects speech with the giving of an account.
apologia: Defense or speech in defense
ἀπολογία
This noun names the kind of self-representing speech Paul’s verb describes.
THE PATTERN
When a voice is given room, it can speak an account that others can hear.
And now go, and I will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you will speak.I lean my full weight, and so I speak; I am bowed down greatly.But set apart the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a word about the hope within you, with gentleness and fear.THE THREAD
Men, brothers, and fathers, hear the word I now speak back to you.Acts 22:1 uses ἀπολογία (apologia, defense) for Paul’s speech, from the same λογ- (log-, word or account) family as ἀπελογεῖτο (apēlogeito, made his defense) here. The repeated word family frames his answer as an account offered for himself, made possible by the room to speak.
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