What Does Acts 17:27 Mean in the King James?
That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
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
Seeking God is a hand reaching toward someone already near.
THE MEANING
You are not trying to close a distance God has left open. Your seeking may feel like reaching through uncertainty, yet this verse places God near to every one of us. Finding is possible within that nearness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God is distant from ordinary people or accessible only to a spiritual elite: the verse says God is near to every one of us.
THE ROOT
ψηλαφάω
psēlapháō
GROWS FROM
ψηλαφ-
To touch by feeling; to grope.
The same Greek verb translated “feel after” is translated “handle” when hands meet what is present. It gives seeking a tactile shade: a reach through uncertainty, held alongside the verse’s insistence that God is near.
ALSO GROWS
feel after: To grope or search by touch.
The search for God is pictured as reaching toward someone near enough to touch.
handle: To touch or handle.
The same verb gives a literal touch to the image of reaching in Acts.
THE PATTERN
Seeking and finding unfold within a nearness that is already present.
But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.THE THREAD
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.“Handle me” uses the same Greek verb as “feel after” in Acts. That shared word lets the search carry a tactile shade: reaching through uncertainty toward what is near.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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