What Does Acts 14:19 Mean in the King James?
And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
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
Persuasion makes a crowd act as if an assumption were knowledge: they stone Paul, then drag him away supposing he is dead.
THE MEANING
Persuasion turns into bodily violence: stones strike until the person before the crowd appears dead. The crowd then drags him beyond the city, acting on that assumption. The verse shows how quickly a group’s conviction becomes a body’s injury and expulsion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a crowd’s certainty makes its conclusion true: the people act on persuasion, then only suppose he is dead.
THE ROOT
πείσαντες
peísantes
GROWS FROM
πειθ-
peith-
To persuade, convince, or win over; in a perfect form, to trust or be confident.
“persuaded” in this verse is peísantes. The Greek word family joins persuasion with trust: being convinced and placing confidence share a linguistic seed. Here that power to win people over directs the crowd toward violence.
ALSO GROWS
pépoitha: Trust; be confident.
πέποιθα
This form shows persuasion’s inward branch: a person can come to rely on what has won their confidence.
apeithéō: Refuse to be persuaded; disobey.
ἀπειθέω
The same seed appears in resistance to persuasion, making the crowd’s change of conviction central to the scene.
λιθάσαντες
lithásantes
GROWS FROM
λιθ-
lith-
Stone; the verb means to stone or pelt with stones.
“stoned” in this verse is lithásantes. The verb carries the material of the violence inside it: the crowd’s action is literally made of stones. The same word-family makes the attack physical and specific, even as the verse leaves the crowd’s conclusion uncertain.
ALSO GROWS
líthos: Stone.
λίθος
The noun is the concrete object carried into the verb: stones become the crowd’s means of violence.
lithoboléo: Throw stones; stone.
λιθοβολέω
This related verb makes the act of casting stones explicit, echoing the bodily force of the scene.
THE PATTERN
Persuasion and accusation can turn a crowd into an instrument of public violence.
And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.THE THREAD
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;Acts 14:19 uses λιθάζω, the same verb translated “stoned” in this first-person line. The connection keeps the scene concrete: stones strike a body, and the violence remains named as violence.
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