What Does Acts 11:2 Mean in the King James?
And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
At the place named for wholeness, Peter meets a dispute over the boundary of belonging.
THE MEANING
You see a community turn Peter’s arrival into a test of belonging. At Jerusalem, whose name carries wholeness, the dispute exposes the gap between the wholeness named and the boundary being defended. The fracture remains open in the verse.
THE ROOT
διεκρίνοντο
diekrinonto
GROWS FROM
κρίνω (krinō; stem κριν)
To separate, distinguish, decide, or judge.
The word can hold both distinguishing and disputing: the argument takes shape as a line drawn between people. English “contended” can hide that act of sorting.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: To judge, decide, or distinguish.
κρίνω
The same seed behind the verb lets you see the dispute as an act of sorting people into categories.
diakrisis: Distinction or discernment.
διάκρισις
This related word shows how distinguishing can name perception; here, the distinction becomes a contest.
περιτομή
peritomē
GROWS FROM
τέμνω
temnō
To cut.
“Those of the circumcision” names a group through the cutting around that marks it. The identity boundary is carried in the word itself, and it becomes the focus of the dispute.
ALSO GROWS
peritemnō: To cut around; to circumcise.
περιτέμνω
The verb behind the group’s name makes its boundary image visible.
tomē: A cutting or incision.
τομή
This related word keeps the concrete image of a cut inside the category named by “circumcision.”
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
To be whole, complete, or intact.
“Jerusalem” in this verse is Yerushalayim. The name Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, Yerushalayim) carries shalom (שָׁלוֹם, shalom; wholeness), and its dual ending evokes two wholenesses. The verse places a dispute over a boundary inside a name of wholeness, leaving the fracture exposed.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
This is the wholeness carried in the city’s name, set against the dispute unfolding there.
shalem: Whole, complete, intact.
שָׁלֵם
This related form makes the contrast between wholeness and the defended boundary plain.
THE PATTERN
A boundary that defines who belongs becomes the point where wholeness is tested.
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;THE THREAD
And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.The verb translated “contended” here and “put no difference” there is διακρίνω (diakrinō; to distinguish). The same root moves from a human dispute over distinction to the statement that God makes none between them.
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