What Does Acts 26:21 Mean?
For these reasons the Jews took hold of me in the temple, and laid their hands on me to kill me.
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
For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.THE KEY
The Greek word for “caught” is also used for conception, so one verb spans taking hold and life beginning.
THE MEANING
Sacred space and lethal threat occupy the same frame: being in the temple does not make violence unreal. You hear the seizure and attempted killing named plainly, with no religious setting able to cover the danger to the body. The testimony remains audible even as the threat is spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sacred place guarantees that violence cannot reach you.
THE ROOT
συλλαβόμενοι
syllabómenoi
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω (lambanō), in σύν + λαμβάνω (syn + lambanō)
λαμβάνω means take or receive; συλλαμβάνω can mean seize or conceive, depending on context.
“took hold of” in this verse is syllabómenoi. The same Greek verb describes Paul’s seizure here and Elisabeth conceiving in Luke 1:24. The English “caught” gives only the violent sense this context requires, while the Greek verb carries a wider range.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: take, receive
λαμβάνω
This base verb reveals the sense of taking within the compound used for Paul’s seizure.
syllambanō: seize; also conceive
συλλαμβάνω
The same verb names Elisabeth’s conception in Luke 1:24, showing how context gives the act its force.
διαχειρίσασθαι
diacheirísasthai
GROWS FROM
χείρ
cheir
χείρ means hand; the verb διαχειρίζομαι means to kill or lay violent hands on.
“laid their hands on me to kill me” in this verse is diacheirísasthai. The attempt to kill is expressed with a verb built around the word for “hand.” The threat is bodily and direct, not an abstract opposition.
ALSO GROWS
cheiropoiētos: made by hand
χειροποίητος
This hand-based word makes the physical sense of χείρ visible beside the threat in the verse.
cheirotoneō: stretch out the hand; choose or appoint
χειροτονέω
This related compound also retains the hand in its form, underscoring the bodily image carried by the verb for killing.
THE PATTERN
The Greek verb συλλαμβάνω can describe both seizing a person and conceiving a child; surrounding words determine its force.
And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus.THE THREAD
And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,Acts uses συλλαβόμενοι to say Paul is seized; Luke uses the same verb for Elisabeth conceiving. The shared word does not soften the violence here, it shows how context can give one Greek verb sharply different force.
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