What Does Acts 18:19 Mean in the King James?
And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
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
His arrival becomes participation when he enters the gathered community and works through ideas with its people.
THE MEANING
The verse brings you from arrival into engagement: he comes to Ephesus, leaves his companions there, and enters the synagogue to reason with the Jews. The exchange happens among people already gathered, where words are worked through together.
THE ROOT
διαλέγομαι
dialegomai
GROWS FROM
λεγ-/λογ- (leg-/log-)
To say or speak; the related λογ- form also appears in words for speech and consideration.
“reasoned” in this verse is dialegomai. The verb διαλέγομαι means to converse, discuss, or reason through something with others. Its speech-root connects the exchange here with both spoken words and careful consideration: reasoning is something voiced and worked through.
ALSO GROWS
logos: Word, message, or account
λόγος
This branch makes the speech within reasoned discussion visible: ideas take form in words.
logizomai: Reckon, count, or consider
λογίζομαι
This branch links the same word-family with weighing an idea, a shade carried by reasoning.
συναγωγή
synagōgē
GROWS FROM
ἄγω
agō
To lead or bring.
“synagogue” in this verse is synagōgē. συναγωγή carries the sense of a gathering, something brought together. The verse therefore places the discussion within a people gathered in one place, not merely inside a building.
ALSO GROWS
synagō: Gather or bring together
συνάγω
This verb shows the gathering-action carried in the word synagogue.
agōgē: Leading, conduct, or way of life
ἀγωγή
This branch retains the root’s sense of being led or brought along, echoing how people are brought together.
THE PATTERN
Understanding is pursued through words exchanged with others, including among people gathered together.
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.THE THREAD
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,Acts 17:2 uses the same Greek verb διαλέγομαι (dialegomai, “to converse, discuss, or reason”) as Acts 18:19. Here, the exchange is explicitly rooted in the scriptures, showing what that shared reasoning can work through.
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