What Does Acts 13:52 Mean in the King James?

And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
Acts 13:52 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

Joy and the Set-Apart Breath are named as two contents of one filling, so joy belongs inside the life of the Breath.

The verse speaks to you now as someone whose inward life can be filled with joy and with the Set-Apart Breath. It holds them together in one picture of fullness.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that joy and the Set-Apart Breath are separate kinds of experience: the verse names both as filling the same person.

πνεῦμα ἅγιον

pneuma hagion

GROWS FROM

πνευ-

pneu-

Breath; with ⁨ἅγιον⁩ (hagion), set apart, the phrase means Set-Apart Breath.

“Holy Ghost” in this verse is pneuma hagion. The word rendered “Ghost” is ⁨πνεῦμα⁩ (pneuma), meaning breath. Joy and this breath are joined as what fills the disciples, reopening the connection that “Ghost” can hide.

ALSO GROWS

pneō: Breathe, blow

πνέω

This verb shares the breath-root of ⁨πνεῦμα⁩, making the verse’s filling language tangible.

pnoē: Breath, a breath of air

πνοή

This related noun keeps the verse’s “Holy Ghost” rooted in the language of breath.

ἐπληροῦντο

eplērounto plēroō

GROWS FROM

πληρ-

plēr-

Fill, make full.

The verb pictures the disciples as being filled, with joy and the Set-Apart Breath named together as the contents. The same root appears in John’s words about joy being made full.

ALSO GROWS

plērēs: Full

πλήρης

This adjective shares the filling-root and shows the state toward which the verb points.

plērōma: Fullness; that which fills

πλήρωμα

This noun names the fullness the verse pictures taking shape within a person.

χαρά

chara

GROWS FROM

χαρ-

char-

Joy, gladness.

Joy is not presented as an extra feeling beside the verse’s deeper reality; it is one of the things filling the disciples. Its word-family also includes the verb for rejoicing and the related word for favor.

ALSO GROWS

chairō: Rejoice, be glad

χαίρω

The verb gives joy an active form: the gladness named here can also be expressed as rejoicing.

charis: Favor

χάρις

This related word shares the ⁨χαρ⁩ stem, bringing favor into the same word-family as joy.

The life of God is described as fullness that takes the form of joy within a person.

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 16:11 · KJVThe verse joins presence with fullness of joy, as Acts joins joy with the Set-Apart Breath.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
John 15:11 · KJVJoy is held within the person and brought to fullness, echoing the filling named in Acts.
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Romans 14:17 · KJVJoy again appears together with the Holy Ghost, showing the same pairing as a feature of God’s governance.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
John 15:11 · KJV

“Full” comes from the same Greek root as “filled” in Acts, and John also names joy within the person. Together, the verses show joy as something brought to fullness within you.

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Acts 13:52 KJV Meaning