What Does Acts 17:9 Mean in the King James?
And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go.
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
This release has a condition attached: Jason and the others are let go only after enough security is taken.
THE MEANING
Here, release comes after a guarantee is demanded and received. Being let go does not mean every condition has disappeared; freedom stands beside the security required for it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being released always means the hold is over: here, release follows a condition.
THE ROOT
ἀπέλυσαν
apelysan
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
to loosen, untie, or release
“let them go” in this verse is apelysan. The Greek verb carries the sense of letting loose, so the release is more than a simple departure. Yet the sentence places that loosening after security is taken: the release happens with a condition met.
ALSO GROWS
lyō: loosen, untie, release
λύω
The base verb shows the loosening held inside “let them go.”
apolyō: release, let go, dismiss
ἀπολύω
This is the verb family used here; it can name release from custody or dismissal.
lysis: loosening, release
λύσις
This noun preserves the same image of release as something being loosened.
τὸ ἱκανόν
to hikanon
GROWS FROM
ἱκαν-
hikan-
enough, adequate, sufficient
The word rendered “security” means “the sufficient thing” or “what is enough.” Release follows once the required sufficiency is received, making adequacy the threshold in this transaction.
ALSO GROWS
hikanos: sufficient, adequate, enough
ἱκανός
This adjective carries the sense present in the security Jason and the others provide.
hikanoō: make sufficient, qualify
ἱκανόω
The related verb expresses being made adequate, echoing the condition that must be met before release.
Ἰάσων
Iasōn
GROWS FROM
ἰα-
ia-
heal, cure; the name is commonly associated with “healer”
Jason’s name carries a healing sense, placing the nature of healing beside a verse about release. This name-echo deepens the scene without making the name and the verb “release” the same root.
ALSO GROWS
iaomai: heal, cure
ἰάομαι
This verb is commonly linked to the healing sense of Jason’s name.
iasis: healing, cure
ἴασις
This related noun makes the healing meaning in the name more visible.
THE PATTERN
Release takes the form of loosening a named hold, whether that hold is captivity, infirmity, or the bonds around the dead.
Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.THE THREAD
And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.The Greek verb here, ἀπέλυσαν (apelysan, “they released”), belongs to the same verb family as ἀπολέλυσαι (apolelysai, “you have been released”), translated “loosed” in Luke 13:12. That echo lets release reach beyond being dismissed from custody: the same word can name the loosening of a bodily constraint.
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