What Does Acts 12:23 Mean in the King James?
And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
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
He withholds weight from God, but his own body cannot command the worms that consume it.
THE MEANING
The verse holds bodily judgment in view: the man is struck, consumed by worms, and dies because he does not give God the weight due to God. Public honor cannot make a body its own source or place it beyond judgment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that public acclaim can make someone self-made, sovereign, or beyond divine judgment.
THE ROOT
δόξαν
doxan
GROWS FROM
δοκ- / δοξ- (dok- / dox-, the δοκέω family)
Esteem, reputation, and honor; in biblical usage, this word also carries the Hebrew kavod sense of weight.
The KJV’s “glory” carries more than radiance: δόξα (doxa) means esteem or honor, and its Hebrew counterpart כָּבוֹד (kavod) names weight. His refusal is a refusal to assign God that weight; public standing cannot make his own body sovereign.
ALSO GROWS
doxazō: Honor, glorify, recognize as worthy.
δοξάζω
This related verb shows that the weight in “glory” is something acknowledged and given, not merely possessed.
endoxos: Honored, held in esteem; glorious.
ἔνδοξος
This branch links the word family to public standing, which cannot protect a body from mortality.
ἔδωκεν
edōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
Give, grant, or place.
“gave” in this verse is edōken. The verb makes the failure an act of withholding: the weight due to God is not given. The sentence presents honor as something rendered, rather than a status that makes its bearer the source of life.
ALSO GROWS
metadidōmi: Share, impart.
μεταδίδωμι
This related verb makes giving a transfer from one who holds something to another who receives it.
apodidōmi: Give back, render, repay.
ἀποδίδωμι
This branch sharpens the sense of giving as rendering what is due, rather than claiming it as one’s own.
THE PATTERN
Honor becomes truthful when human beings direct God’s weight to God instead of treating acclaim as ownership.
I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.THE THREAD
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.Acts uses δόξα (doxa, weight or honor) for what is withheld from God; 1 Peter uses its sister verb δοξάζω (doxazō, to honor or glorify) for the direction speech and service take. The shared word family sharpens the contrast: this verse names God as the one all things glorify.
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