What Does Acts 17:7 Mean in the King James?
Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.
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 accusation reveals that receiving people becomes politically charged when they name a different king.
THE MEANING
Jason receives people whose words name Jesus as another king. The verse places welcome beside a public claim about who rules, and shows how quickly that claim is treated as defiance.
THE ROOT
βασιλέα
basilea
GROWS FROM
βασιλ-
king, ruler
This consonantal family gathers the king, the act of reigning, and the realm under one root. Here, naming Jesus as king names a rival governance, not simply an alternate title.
ALSO GROWS
basileuō: to reign, rule as king
βασιλεύω
The king named in the verse is inseparable from the act of ruling.
basileia: kingship, kingdom, realm
βασιλεία
The same family links the person called king to the governance that his rule expresses.
ὑποδέδεκται
hypodedektai
GROWS FROM
δεχ-
receive, welcome
“received” in this verse is hypodedektai. The verb centers the scene on an act of receiving: Jason has welcomed these people. The accusation then makes that welcome part of the public conflict over whose rule they name.
ALSO GROWS
dechomai: receive, welcome
δέχομαι
This is the core receiving word within the verse’s verb family.
apodechomai: welcome, receive gladly
ἀποδέχομαι
Its shared root keeps welcome and reception connected to Jason’s act of receiving.
THE PATTERN
When rival rule is named, allegiance becomes a public contest over who governs.
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.THE THREAD
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.John uses the same Greek king-family, βασιλεύς (basileus, king), as Acts. Jesus connects that kingship to bearing witness to truth, opening the title beyond the accusation that it is only a rival political claim.
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