What Does Acts 17:11 Mean in the King James?
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
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
Discernment holds two things together: receive the word eagerly, then examine it closely.
THE MEANING
The word meets you with both an open mind and a questioning mind: readiness welcomes it, while daily searching tests what you hear. Here, examination is part of receiving, not a refusal to receive.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that openness requires accepting every claim without examination, or that careful questioning means your heart is closed.
THE ROOT
ἀνακρίνοντες
anakrinontes
GROWS FROM
κριν
krin-
to distinguish, decide, or judge
“searched” in this verse is anakrinontes. The word for searching carries the sense of examining by distinguishing and weighing. Its shared root connects this search with judgment: the hearers welcome the message, then discern whether it holds.
ALSO GROWS
krinō: to judge or decide
κρίνω
It shares the root beneath the careful weighing meant by “searched.”
krisis: judgment or decision
κρίσις
It shows that examination reaches a considered judgment, not a glance.
kritēs: judge
κριτής
It names one who distinguishes and evaluates, the role these hearers take up toward what they hear.
ἐδέξαντο
edexanto
GROWS FROM
δεχ
dech-
to receive or welcome
“received” in this verse is edexanto. This is a welcoming reception of the word. The verse holds that welcome beside close examination, so receptivity does not mean suspending discernment.
ALSO GROWS
dechomai: to receive or welcome
δέχομαι
It is the base verb behind the hearers’ reception of the word.
apodechomai: to welcome or receive
ἀποδέχομαι
Its shared verb shows the same receptive movement in another form.
paradechomai: to accept or receive
παραδέχομαι
It extends the same root’s sense of taking something in.
εὐγενέστεροι
eugenesteroi
GROWS FROM
γεν
gen-
birth, origin, or kind
“noble” in this verse is eugenesteroi. The word literally carries the sense of being well-born, yet the verse shows what this nobility looks like: readiness to receive and care in testing. Its measure here is a way of engaging the word.
ALSO GROWS
genos: kind, family, or stock
γένος
It shares the birth-and-kind root within “noble.”
genea: generation
γενεά
It carries the root’s connection to birth and those who descend from it.
genesis: origin or coming into being
γένεσις
It reveals the same root’s sense of beginning or birth.
THE PATTERN
A receptive heart tests what it hears and keeps what proves sound.
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.THE THREAD
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.“Spiritually discerned” translates a form of the same Greek verb, anakrinō, used here for searching the scriptures. The shared root links receiving what is true with the work of discerning it.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us