What Does Acts 4:16 Mean?
Saying, "What shall we do to these men? For indeed a known sign has come to be through them, and it is visible to all who settle in Jerusalem, and we cannot say no to it.
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
Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we can not deny it.THE KEY
A sign already visible to everyone can outrun the power of those who want to control what it means.
THE MEANING
You meet the moment when what is true has become publicly visible, even to people who resist acknowledging it. In Jerusalem, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim, the twofold wholeness), the sign stands in plain view, and the council admits its reality. Seeing it does not yet mean welcoming it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that authority can make visible truth disappear simply by refusing to concede it.
THE ROOT
σημεῖον
sēmeion
GROWS FROM
σημ-
sēm-
A sign or mark that points and indicates.
The Greek calls it a “known sign”: γνωστὸν (gnōston, known) σημεῖον (sēmeion, sign). It is not only an astonishing event; it points beyond itself, and its meaning is already legible across the city.
ALSO GROWS
sēma: Sign, mark, or token.
σήμα
The event functions as a mark that can be recognized, not an experience known only to the people involved.
sēmainō: To signify or indicate.
σημαίνω
This branch makes clear that the sign points toward meaning the council cannot erase.
φανερόν
phaneron
GROWS FROM
φαν- (phan-), from φαίνω (phainō)
To appear, become visible, or show.
“visible” in this verse is phaneron. The word carries the sense of something coming into view, present in plain sight. The council’s difficulty is not that evidence is missing; the truth is already on display.
ALSO GROWS
phaneroō: To make visible or reveal.
φανερόω
The sign’s reality is disclosed for the whole city to see.
epiphainō: To appear or shine upon.
ἐπιφαίνω
This related form echoes the way what was hidden can come into view.
ἀρνήσασθαι
arnēsasthai
GROWS FROM
ἀρν- (arn-), from ἀρνέομαι (arneomai)
To deny, disown, or refuse to acknowledge.
“cannot say no to it” in this verse is arnēsasthai. The verb names the act of disowning what is before you, yet the speakers say that even this response is unavailable to them. Recognition arrives before they decide what to do about it.
ALSO GROWS
aparneomai: To deny or disown.
ἀπαρνέομαι
This intensified form shows denial as an active refusal of what one recognizes.
arnēsis: Denial or renunciation.
ἄρνησις
The noun names the refusal that the council says it cannot carry out.
THE PATTERN
A public sign can force acknowledgment without producing surrender.
Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God; and Pharaoh's heart was gripped, and he did not hear and respond to them, as the LORD had said.Then the chief priests and the separated ones gathered together in council, and said, What are we doing? For this man does many signs.For the unseen things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, grasped through the things made, his ageless power and divinity, so that they stand without a word in their defense.THE THREAD
Jesus answered, Neither has this man missed the mark, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be brought into the light in him.Acts uses φανερόν (phaneron, visible or manifest); John uses φανερωθῇ (phanerōthē, be made manifest), from the same word family. In both verses, what becomes visible carries the meaning before anyone’s verdict does.
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