What Does Acts 14:18 Mean in the King James?
And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.
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
Here, reverence has already become action: the words must stop an offering, not simply correct a thought.
THE MEANING
When admiration outruns recognition, it can become an offering: people begin to act on what they misunderstand. Words can interrupt that movement, but sometimes only with difficulty. The offering is stopped at the threshold, after the impulse has already become physical.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that sincere reverence is automatically rightly directed. The crowd’s intensity does not make its object divine.
THE ROOT
κατέπαυσαν
katépausan
GROWS FROM
παύω
To stop or cease; with κατά, to bring something to a stop.
“restrained” in this verse is katépausan. The Greek verb pictures an action brought to an end, not just an attitude softened. The adverb μόλις means “barely” or “with difficulty”: the crowd is stopped at the edge of doing what it intends.
ALSO GROWS
pausatō: Let him stop or refrain.
παυσάτω
Peter uses this form for restraining the tongue from evil, showing the same root can name an action actively brought to a halt.
katapausis: Rest or cessation.
κατάπαυσις
This related noun describes the state reached when activity comes to an end; stopping and resting belong to the same word family.
θύειν
thyein
GROWS FROM
θύω
To sacrifice or slaughter as a sacrificial act.
“sacrifice” in this verse is thyein. The verb names a concrete rite, not merely praise or admiration. The crowd’s mistaken recognition has crossed into an act of offering.
ALSO GROWS
thysia: Sacrifice or offering.
θυσία
This noun names the act the crowd is about to perform, making the shift from misrecognition to action explicit.
thysiastērion: Altar.
θυσιαστήριον
The related word belongs to the same sacrificial vocabulary, underscoring that this is ritual action rather than a figure of speech.
THE PATTERN
True messengers turn honor away from themselves and toward God.
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.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:And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.THE THREAD
For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:The word translated “restrained” here is built on παύω (pauō), the verb Peter uses in “let him refrain” (παυσάτω). The same root names a sacrifice halted here and a tongue told to cease from evil there: restraint interrupts an action already taking shape.
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