What Does Acts 5:35 Mean?
And he said to them, Men of Israel, watch yourselves concerning these men, and what you are about to do.
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 said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.THE KEY
The first object of scrutiny is not these men, but the response being formed toward them.
THE MEANING
The verse places you in the pause before acting: your attention turns toward what you are about to do concerning others. The response taking shape in you belongs within the matter being discerned; it is not outside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Because their conduct is under scrutiny, whatever we do in response to them is automatically justified.
THE ROOT
προσέχετε
prosechete
GROWS FROM
ἔχω
hold, have
“watch yourselves” in this verse is prosechete. The verb carries the image of holding attention toward something. Here, attention turns first toward yourselves and the action you are about to take, making self-examination part of the judgment itself.
ALSO GROWS
echō: hold, have
ἔχω
This base verb supplies the image beneath “take heed”: attention is held toward its object.
katechō: hold fast, retain
κατέχω
This related verb keeps the same image of holding, suggesting attention that stays fixed on what is being considered.
apechō: hold back, abstain
ἀπέχω
This related verb turns holding into restraint, echoing the pause before acting that the verse asks its hearers to consider.
THE PATTERN
Discernment begins by turning attention toward the actor’s own next move before evaluating another person.
Only guard yourself, and guard your living soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from your heart all the days of your life. But make them known to your children, and to your children's children.Why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not notice the beam in your own eye?Brothers, even if a person is caught in a stumble, you who are of the breath, mend such a one in the breath of gentleness, watching yourself, lest you also be tested.THE THREAD
So watch yourselves, and the whole flock, in which the Set-Apart Breath has set you as watchers over, to feed the assembly of God, which he made his own through his own blood.This verse uses the same Greek verb, προσέχετε (prosechete), meaning “take heed” or “attend.” Attention turns first toward yourselves, then extends to the whole flock, linking care for others with awareness of your own responsibility.
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