What Does Acts 4:27 Mean?
For in truth, in this city, against your set-apart servant Jesus, whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate were gathered together with the nations and the peoples of Israel,
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 of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,THE KEY
A crowd can gather against the one God has anointed; agreement and appointment are not the same thing.
THE MEANING
This verse shows you that a united front can still oppose what God has chosen. Herod, Pilate, Gentiles, and Israel converge against Jesus, yet the text names him as God’s anointed and set-apart one. Their agreement exposes the limits of consensus: shared opposition does not become truth simply because powerful and ordinary voices join it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A united consensus is proof that its judgment is right.
THE ROOT
συναχθῆναι
synachthēnai
GROWS FROM
συνάγω
synagō
To bring or gather together.
“gathered together” in this verse is synachthēnai. The verse uses the same word-family that gives English “synagogue,” a gathering or assembly. Here, people from different ranks and groups assemble against Jesus, showing that gathering together does not by itself make a cause just.
ALSO GROWS
synagōgē: Assembly, gathering
συναγωγή
This noun names the gathered assembly; the verse’s verb describes the groups assembling against Jesus.
episynagō: Gather together
ἐπισυνάγω
This related verb keeps the same image of people being brought into a gathering.
ἔχρισας
echrisas
GROWS FROM
χρίω
chriō
To anoint, or apply oil.
The verb translated “hast anointed” belongs to the same word-family as “Christ,” which means “anointed one.” The verse presents Jesus not just as the target of the gathering, but as the one marked out by God.
ALSO GROWS
christos: Anointed one
χριστός
This title names the one who receives the anointing described by the verb in the verse.
chrisma: Anointing
χρῖσμα
This noun names the anointing itself, sharing the same word-family as the act attributed to God here.
παῖδα
paida
GROWS FROM
παῖς
pais
Child or servant, depending on context.
“set-apart servant” in this verse is paida. The Greek word translated “child” can also mean “servant.” That range lets the phrase hold both Jesus’ intimate relation to God and his role in carrying out God’s purpose.
ALSO GROWS
paidion: Child, young child
παιδίον
This related word makes the child sense explicit and familiar.
paidiskē: Maidservant, servant girl
παιδίσκη
This related word shows the servant sense present in the wider word-family.
THE PATTERN
The one God sets apart can be rejected by a united human judgment without losing that appointment.
The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers sit down together against the LORD and against his anointed one, saying,Then from that day forward they took counsel together to put him to death.Coming to him, as to a living stone, tested and set aside by men, but chosen by God and precious,THE THREAD
The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers sit down together against the LORD and against his anointed one, saying,The Greek wording of Psalm 2:2 uses the same gather-family found in Acts 4:27, opening the older pattern behind this gathering. Psalm pairs the rulers’ assembly with opposition to the LORD and his anointed, making the name “anointed” the hinge between the verses.
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