What Does Acts 28:14 Mean?
Where we found brothers, and were urged, and stayed with them seven days, and so we went toward Rome.
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
Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome.THE KEY
The word translated “tarry” is the language of abiding, so the road toward Rome includes seven days of remaining with people.
THE MEANING
Your movement toward what lies ahead includes the people who receive you along the way. Staying among them is part of the journey, not outside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Forward movement does not require uninterrupted motion; a pause in company can belong to the journey itself.
THE ROOT
ἐπιμεῖναι
epimeinai
GROWS FROM
μένω
menō
Remain, stay, abide; continue in a place or relationship.
English “tarry” can sound like a mere delay, but this word belongs to the same root translated “abide.” The seven days are a form of remaining with others, woven into the journey rather than set apart from it.
ALSO GROWS
menō: Remain, stay, abide.
μένω
This root appears as “abide” in John 15:4, carrying the sense of staying into relationship.
hypomenō: Remain, endure, persevere.
ὑπομένω
The same root can describe continuing through difficulty; here it reveals staying as a meaningful interval within forward movement.
παρεκλήθημεν
pareklēthēmen
GROWS FROM
παρακαλέω
parakaleō
Urge, appeal, encourage, or comfort, according to context.
“were urged” in this verse is pareklēthēmen. The travelers are actively appealed to, not simply allowed to stop. This word family also names encouragement and comfort, giving the invitation to stay the feel of support as well as request.
ALSO GROWS
paraklēsis: Encouragement, appeal, consolation.
παράκλησις
The family can name encouragement and consolation, linking the appeal to stay with the support offered through welcome.
paraklētos: Comforter, advocate, helper.
παράκλητος
This related word shows another expression of the same word family: a presence that supports or speaks for someone.
THE PATTERN
A road can carry forward through an interval of hospitality, where travelers are received and stay.
And I will take a morsel of bread, and prop up your hearts. After that you shall pass on, for therefore you have crossed over to your servant. And they said, So you shall make it, as you have spoken.But they pressed him, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day has already leaned. And he went in to stay with them.And when she was immersed, and her household, she urged us, saying, If you have judged me steady in the Lord, come into my house and stay there. And she pressed us.THE THREAD
But they pressed him, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day has already leaned. And he went in to stay with them.Here, fellow travelers urge a companion to remain with them; in Acts, the brethren appeal to the travelers to stay. The same root underlies both invitations, revealing the pause as shared presence within the journey.
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