What Does Acts 6:7 Mean?
And the word of God grew, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great crowd of the priests heard and responded by leaning their weight.
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 the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.THE KEY
The word’s increase becomes visible as disciples multiply and priests turn hearing into trust-filled response.
THE MEANING
God’s word is actively expanding, and its growth shows in the multiplying disciples within Jerusalem. A great number of priests are also responding to trust with obedience. The verse holds outward growth and inward response together: the message spreads as people heed what they trust.
THE ROOT
ηὔξανεν
ēuxanen
GROWS FROM
αὐξ-
aux-
To grow or increase.
“grew” in this verse is ēuxanen. The verb carries a sense of growth unfolding, not merely a larger count. Here the word of God is the first thing described as growing, before the disciples multiply.
ALSO GROWS
auxēsis: Growth, increase.
αὔξησις
This related noun names growth as a continuing process, illuminating the movement already present in the verse.
auxanō: To grow, increase.
αὐξάνω
The same verb is used elsewhere for living growth, giving the word’s increase an organic quality.
ὑπήκουον
hypēkouon
GROWS FROM
ὑπακου-
hypakou-
To hear under, heed, obey.
“heard and responded” in this verse is hypēkouon. The priests’ response is not presented as abstract agreement. The verb holds listening and heeding together: what they hear becomes a response.
ALSO GROWS
akouō: To hear, listen.
ἀκούω
This verb’s listening sense remains inside the word for obedience.
hypakoē: Obedience, attentive response.
ὑπακοή
This related noun shows the same movement from hearing toward response.
πίστει
pistei
GROWS FROM
πειθ- (peith-), in the πιστ- (pist-) family
To persuade, be persuaded, come to trust.
“by leaning their weight” in this verse is pistei. The word translated “faith” belongs to a family tied to being persuaded and trusting. Beside the verb for heeding, it presents trust as something that takes shape in a person’s response.
ALSO GROWS
peithō: To persuade, convince, or be persuaded.
πείθω
This related verb brings out the persuaded trust carried by the verse’s “faith.”
pisteuō: To trust, believe.
πιστεύω
This verb expresses the trust named by the noun as an active reliance.
THE PATTERN
The living word grows through people as hearing becomes trust and trust becomes visible response.
And he becomes like a tree planted by the channels of the waters, that gives its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; whatever he does, he breaks through.And other seed fell into the good soil, and it gave fruit, climbing and growing, and bore some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.Which has come to you, as it is in all the world, bringing forth fruit and growing, as it also does in you, since the day you heard it and perceived the favor of God in truth.THE THREAD
But the word of God kept growing and multiplying.Acts 12:24 pairs the same verbs for growth and multiplication with “the word of God.” That repeated wording shows the increase in Acts 6:7 as part of a continuing pattern: the message grows as its people multiply.
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