What Does Acts 15:13 Mean in the King James?
And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
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 “peace” before James speaks is silence, and that silence makes room for a voice that asks the whole assembly to listen.
THE MEANING
The assembly falls quiet; James addresses its members as brothers and asks them to hear him. The verse holds the shift from many voices to one voice asking for shared attention. It lets you see silence as the moment before listening becomes deliberate.
THE ROOT
σιγῆσαι
sigēsai
GROWS FROM
σιγ-
sig-
to be silent
Under the KJV idiom “held their peace” is the Greek verb σιγάω (sigáō, “be silent; keep silent”). The verse begins with quiet, not a claim about harmony or wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
sigē: silence
σιγή
The related noun names the quiet that precedes James’s speech.
sigáō: be silent; keep silent
σιγάω
This verb names the action in the verse: the assembly is quiet before James replies.
ἀκούσατέ
akoúsate
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
to hear, listen
“hearken” in this verse is akoúsate. James’s request is not merely that the assembly notice a sound; he asks them to give him their hearing. The same root can appear in words that extend hearing toward heeding, while this verse itself asks for attention.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: hearing; report
ἀκοή
This related noun can name hearing itself or what is heard, linking reception with a message.
hypakoúō: listen to; heed; obey
ὑπακούω
This compound shows hearing extending toward heeding, though James’s request here is simply to hear him.
THE PATTERN
Shared silence can make space for a voice to be heard.
Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I will speak.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:Both verses use the Greek root ἀκου- (akou-, “hear, listen”): here James asks the assembly to hear him, while James 1:19 calls the reader swift to hear. The shared root makes listening the hinge between the quiet and the next words.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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