What Does Acts 28:29 Mean?
And when he had said these things, the Jews departed, and had much searching together among themselves.
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 he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves.THE KEY
They leave the speaker, but the words keep moving through them as a shared search that has not yet settled.
THE MEANING
Words can stay active after an encounter ends, carried into discussion among those who heard them. “Great reasoning” names vigorous debate, so the verse leaves their response unresolved rather than claiming they agree.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that leaving means the words made no mark: the hearers depart, yet the discussion continues among them.
THE ROOT
συζήτησιν
syzētēsin
GROWS FROM
ζητέω (ζητ-), joined with σύν (syn, “together”)
To seek, search, or inquire; joined with “together,” to seek or question together.
“searching together” in this verse is syzētēsin. The Greek word carries both inquiry and disputation: this is a search happening among people, not merely private thought. English “reasoning” can hide that shared seeking inside the word itself.
ALSO GROWS
zēteō: To seek or search.
ζητέω
This root keeps inquiry at the center of the discussion: the words are still being examined after the listeners leave.
syzēteō: To discuss or dispute together.
συζητέω
This verbal relative makes the shared, potentially contentious quality of their reasoning explicit.
zētēsis: Inquiry, question, or dispute.
ζήτησις
This related noun shows how the root can name an active investigation, not just a settled conclusion.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word can continue its work as people examine it together beyond the moment of hearing.
Come now, and let us lay it out together, says the LORD. Though your falling short be as scarlet, it shall be whitened as snow. Though it be red like crimson, it shall be as wool.And it happened, while they talked and searched together, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them.And when there had been much searching, Peter rose up, and said to them, Men and brethren, you know that from ancient days God picked out among us that the nations through my mouth should hear the word of the good news and trust.THE THREAD
And it happened, while they talked and searched together, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them.Luke uses the same συζητέω word family for people reasoning together as they walk. Here, the departing listeners keep seeking among themselves; there, shared inquiry continues as a new presence draws near.
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