What Does Acts 14:4 Mean in the King James?
But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
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 says the city’s crowd was cleaved, making its fracture of allegiance visible.
THE MEANING
One public message meets different responses: some stand with the Jews, and some with the apostles. The city shares one place, but its multitude does not hold one position.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that shared surroundings mean shared allegiance: one city can contain a crowd split over what it hears.
THE ROOT
ἐσχίσθη
eschisthē
GROWS FROM
σχίζω
schizō
To split, cleave, or tear apart.
“divided” in this verse is eschisthē. The verb pictures the crowd being split open, so its division is more than a tally of opposing sides: the fracture becomes visible within the multitude. The related word σχίσμα (schisma) names this same kind of split elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
schizō: To split or tear apart.
σχίζω
This is the verb’s lexical form; here the crowd undergoes the action of being cleaved.
schisma: A split or division.
σχίσμα
This related noun names the fracture between people, linking the scene to other passages that describe a crowd divided.
THE PATTERN
A public encounter with a claim about God makes different allegiances visible among those who hear it.
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.So there was a division among the people because of him.THE THREAD
So there was a division among the people because of him.Acts uses ἐσχίσθη, from σχίζω (schizō), for the crowd being split; John uses σχίσμα (schisma) for a division among the people because of Jesus. The shared root makes the fracture itself the link between the passages.
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