What Does Acts 6:9 Mean?
Then some stood up from the synagogue which is called the synagogue of the freedmen, and of the Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, questioning with Stephen.
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
Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.THE KEY
The Greek for “disputing” carries the language of seeking together, revealing how a shared inquiry can become a contest.
THE MEANING
A gathered religious community can still hold sharp disagreement: people from different places bring their voices into dispute with Stephen. The verse speaks to you wherever a shared sacred space holds competing convictions; being together does not make understanding uniform.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The assumption that a religious gathering guarantees agreement dissolves here: people can assemble in the same place and still contend with one another.
THE ROOT
συζητοῦντες
syzētountes
GROWS FROM
ζητ- in συζητέω (syzēteō, discuss or debate together)
ζητέω (zēteō) means seek or look for; joined with συν- (syn-, together), it names discussing or disputing together.
“questioning” in this verse is syzētountes. The verb combines συν- (syn-, together) and ζητέω (zēteō, seek), and it can mean discuss or dispute. English emphasizes the collision; the root also lets you hear a matter being pursued among people, without promising they pursue it in harmony.
ALSO GROWS
zēteō: seek, look for
ζητέω
This is the seed of the verse’s verb: the dispute concerns a matter being pursued.
ekzēteō: seek out, search for
ἐκζητέω
It shows the same seeking-root extending toward a determined search.
syzēteō: discuss or dispute together
συζητέω
This is the verb used here: seeking a matter in the presence of other voices can become contention.
συναγωγή
synagōgē
GROWS FROM
ἄγω (agō, bring or lead), in συνάγω (synagō, gather together)
ἄγω (agō) means bring or lead; συν- (syn-, together) gives συνάγω (synagō), bring together or gather.
“synagogue” in this verse is synagōgē. The word names a gathering, but gathering does not make its members one in understanding. Here, people assembled in a shared place are still disputing with one another.
ALSO GROWS
agō: bring, lead
ἄγω
This root supplies the movement of bringing people together.
synagō: gather or bring together
συνάγω
The verb carries the assembly’s basic action: people are brought together.
synagōgē: gathering, assembly, synagogue
συναγωγή
The word for the place or assembly grows from the act of gathering.
THE PATTERN
A shared space can hold active disagreement until competing voices and evidence come into the open.
The aligned one at the head of his own contention seems straight, but his neighbor comes and searches him out.So some of the separated ones said, This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath. Others said, How can a man who misses the mark do such signs? And there was a split among them.And when there had been much searching, Peter rose up, and said to them, Men and brethren, you know that from ancient days God picked out among us that the nations through my mouth should hear the word of the good news and trust.THE THREAD
And when there had been much searching, Peter rose up, and said to them, Men and brethren, you know that from ancient days God picked out among us that the nations through my mouth should hear the word of the good news and trust.Both passages draw on ζητέω (zēteō, seek): Acts 6:9 uses συζητοῦντες (syzētountes, disputing), and Acts 15:7 uses ζητήσεως (zētēseōs, disputing). The shared root shows that English “dispute” belongs to a word family built around seeking; in Acts 15:7, speech after the dispute brings a witness into the assembly’s hearing.
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