What Does Acts 12:19 Mean in the King James?
And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judæa to Cæsarea, and there abode.
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
The Greek words for the prison watch and its keepers share a root: when the escape succeeds, the guarding system turns lethal against its own men.
THE MEANING
When control loses the person it is holding, it can turn on the people charged with keeping him. The keepers are examined and ordered to death, while Herod goes on to settle in Caesarea. Peter’s escape and the keepers’ execution stand together: freedom for one, lethal consequence for others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that keeping the ruler’s order guarantees a keeper’s safety collapses here: the guards are executed when the ruler’s control fails.
THE ROOT
φυλακάς
phylakas
GROWS FROM
φυλακ-
phylak-
watching, guarding, keeping
The same Greek word-family names both the men who guard and the watch posts Peter passes through. English separates “keepers” from “ward,” but the root joins them as one apparatus of keeping; after Peter escapes, that apparatus is judged through its guards.
ALSO GROWS
phylakē: watch post, guard place, prison
φυλακή
The related word for the watch posts in Acts 12:10 links the place Peter passes through to the men called keepers here.
phylassō: guard, keep watch
φυλάσσω
This verb makes explicit the guarding action contained in the keepers’ name.
ἀνακρίνας
anakrinas
GROWS FROM
κρίνω
krinō
to distinguish, decide, judge
“examined” in this verse is anakrinas. The verb for examining belongs to the word-family of judgment. In this scene, scrutiny is followed by a death order: questioning the keepers is part of the process that condemns them.
ALSO GROWS
krisis: judgment, decision
κρίσις
It shows the judging sense carried by the root beneath “examined.”
kritēs: judge
κριτής
It names the one who makes a judgment, bringing the root’s judicial force into view.
ἀπαχθῆναι
apachthēnai
GROWS FROM
ἄγω
agō
to lead, bring
“put to death” in this verse is apachthēnai. The Greek verb also pictures the keepers being led away. The KJV names the result directly, while this word keeps the forced removal of their bodies in view.
ALSO GROWS
agō: lead, bring
ἄγω
This is the basic verb beneath the order to lead the keepers away.
apagō: lead away, carry off
ἀπάγω
This related form gives the movement contained in the execution order.
THE PATTERN
Under coercive rule, a failed hold can make the people around an escape bear its lethal cost.
And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.THE THREAD
When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.The word rendered “ward” is φυλακή (phylakē, “watch post”), from the same word-family as φυλακάς (phylakas, “keepers”) in verse 19. Peter’s route passes through the watch posts, and the later death order falls on the human keepers: the shared root links the escape to the men made to answer for it.
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