What Does Acts 28:25 Mean?
And being out of tune with one another, they departed, after Paul had spoken one word, "Well spoke the Set-Apart Breath through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers."
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 when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers,THE KEY
A single word exposes the fracture: agreement is a shared sound, and when that sound fails, the listeners part.
THE MEANING
A spoken word can bring a division into view: the hearers cannot find a shared voice, so they leave. The Set-Apart Breath speaks through Isaiah, and the word remains one even as its hearers separate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that truth is proved by unanimous agreement: a word can be spoken well while its hearers split.
THE ROOT
ἀσύμφωνοι
asýmphōnoi
GROWS FROM
σύμφωνος
sýmphōnos
Shared sound; voices in accord.
“out of tune with one another” in this verse is asýmphōnoi. English “agreed” can sound like a decision or opinion, but this word pictures people who are not sounding as one. The room loses its shared voice before it loses its shared space.
ALSO GROWS
phōnē: voice, sound
φωνή
Agreement is pictured as voices sounding together, so disagreement is a failure to share a sound.
symphōneō: to agree, sound together
συμφωνέω
This is the positive form of the same word family: Acts names the absence of accord.
symphōnia: music, harmony
συμφωνία
The word family also names harmony, making the contrast between shared sound and discord audible.
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
To breathe or blow.
The word translated “Ghost” is also the word for breath and wind: here, the Set-Apart Breath speaks through Isaiah. Greek keeps those senses in one word where English can separate them.
ALSO GROWS
pnoē: breath
πνοή
This related word names breath directly, making the shared root’s physical sense clear.
pneuma: breath, wind, spirit
πνεῦμα
The same word can name breath, wind, or spirit; here it is the Breath speaking through the prophet.
THE PATTERN
A shared word makes accord visible, while its absence exposes division.
Do two walk together, unless they have met?Again, I say to you, that if two of you sound together on the earth concerning anything they ask for, it will come to be for them from my Father who is in the heavens.Now I urge you, brothers, by the nature of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no rending among you, but that you be mended together in the same mind and the same judgment.THE THREAD
Again, I say to you, that if two of you sound together on the earth concerning anything they ask for, it will come to be for them from my Father who is in the heavens.The word translated “agree” is the positive form of the same sound-together word whose negated form describes the people in Acts. Acts shows the listeners parting when their voices will not harmonize; Matthew shows agreement as voices meeting in one request.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us