What Does Acts 7:22 Mean?
And Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was powerful in words and in works.
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 Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.THE KEY
The verse places words and deeds under one word for capacity, showing strength in what can be said as well as what gets done.
THE MEANING
Learned wisdom takes shape as capacity in speech and action. The reader’s words and work belong to one life, each visible beside the other.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that wisdom is only stored knowledge, unrelated to a person’s speech or actions.
THE ROOT
δυνατός
dynatos
GROWS FROM
δυν-
dyn-
Be able; have capacity.
“powerful” in this verse is dynatos. The word translated “mighty” carries the sense of being capable. That capacity applies to both speech and deeds, so strength here includes what can be expressed and what can be accomplished.
ALSO GROWS
dynamis: Power, capacity
δύναμις
This branch makes the sense of ability explicit: the verse describes capacity that reaches both words and deeds.
dynamai: Be able, can
δύναμαι
The verb holds the root sense of ability; here it is visible in both speaking and doing.
λόγοις
logois
GROWS FROM
λογ- (log-), in the λέγω (legō) word-family
Say, tell; express as speech or an account.
“words” in this verse is logois. λόγος (logos) can mean a word, speech, or an account. Beside deeds, it shows spoken expression as one part of the same capacity that becomes visible in action.
ALSO GROWS
legō: Say, tell
λέγω
This branch brings out the spoken act within the verse’s “words.”
logizomai: Reckon, consider, account
λογίζομαι
Its sense of rendering an account helps reveal that words can carry considered meaning, held alongside work accomplished.
ἔργοις
ergois
GROWS FROM
ἔργ-
erg-
Work, activity, task.
“works” in this verse is ergois. ἔργον (ergon) names work or accomplishment, the activity carried through. Set beside words, it places spoken expression and completed work within one field of capacity.
ALSO GROWS
ergazomai: Work, do, accomplish
ἐργάζομαι
This verb shows the root as activity carried out, giving concrete force to “deeds.”
ergatēs: Worker, laborer
ἐργάτης
This branch names the one engaged in work, keeping the focus on deeds as action rather than abstraction.
THE PATTERN
Ability becomes visible in both speech and action, with words and completed work belonging to one expression.
By the word of the LORD the heavens are made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth.And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, strong in work and in word before God and all the people.But someone will say, You have trust, and I have works. Show me your trust without your works, and I will show you my trust by my works.THE THREAD
And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, strong in work and in word before God and all the people.Luke 24:19 repeats the same Greek vocabulary: δυνατός (dynatos, mighty or capable), ἔργον (ergon, deed or work), and λόγος (logos, word or speech). It turns the phrase around, deed and word, showing the same capacity in both.
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