What Does Acts 4:36 Mean?
Joses, whom the sent ones called Barnabas, which is, being interpreted, son of comfort, a Levite and a Cypriot by birth,
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 Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,THE KEY
Barnabas’s name makes consolation visible as a quality a person can carry into others’ lives.
THE MEANING
A name can reveal the shape of a person’s presence: Joses is known as Barnabas, “son of consolation.” Here consolation means comfort and encouragement that steadies another. The verse lets you see identity through what a person brings.
THE ROOT
παρακλήσεως
paraklēseōs
GROWS FROM
παρακαλε-
parakale-
The Greek word family carries the sense of comfort, encouragement, and urging an appeal; consolation can steady someone toward courage or resolve.
“Barnabas, son of comfort” in this verse is paraklēseōs. The Greek phrase translated “son of consolation” uses a word from the same family as parakaleō, meaning to comfort or urge. English “consolation” can sound like a feeling, while the root also holds an active quality of encouragement that strengthens another.
ALSO GROWS
parakaleō: To comfort or encourage; also to urge or appeal.
παρακαλέω
This is the verb from the same word family: consolation can be something expressed through comfort or an urging that strengthens.
paraklētos: An advocate or helper.
παράκλητος
Its shared word family links consolation with help that stands in support of another.
THE PATTERN
Comfort becomes a strength when it is spoken, embodied, and passed from one person to another.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.Who, when he came, and saw the favor of God, rejoiced, and urged them all, that with heart set in place they would cling to the Lord.Who comforts us in all our pressure, so that we are able to comfort those in every pressure, through the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.THE THREAD
Who comforts us in all our pressure, so that we are able to comfort those in every pressure, through the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.The repeated Greek word family behind “comfort” and “consolation” connects this verse’s name for Barnabas with comfort that is received and then given. It opens “son of consolation” as a quality that reaches beyond one person and strengthens others.
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