What Does Acts 18:23 Mean in the King James?
And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples.
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 verse’s decisive action is making learners firm: the journey carries support through the communities it passes.
THE MEANING
The learning in you is not meant to stay loose: it is made firm as you move along the path and receive support alongside other learners. The verse presents steadiness as something strengthened across time, place, and community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that discipleship is solitary progress: here, every learner is strengthened within a shared movement.
THE ROOT
ἐπιστηρίζων
epistērizōn
GROWS FROM
στηρίζω
stērizō
To set firmly, make stable, establish.
At its root, the verb pictures setting something firmly in place; “strengthening” carries this sense of becoming established. The same compound recurs when disciples are confirmed elsewhere in Acts, revealing support as steadiness made durable across a journey.
ALSO GROWS
epistērizō: Strengthen, support, establish.
ἐπιστηρίζω
This compound form appears when disciples’ souls are confirmed in Acts 14:22, showing support as the making-firm of learners.
stērigmos: Firmness, steadfastness.
στηριγμός
This noun names the settled quality produced by being made firm, linking strengthening with a steady footing.
THE PATTERN
People become steady when learners are strengthened through repeated, shared support.
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.And sent Timotheus, our brother, and minister of God, and our fellowlabourer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith:THE THREAD
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.The verb translated “strengthening” in Acts 18:23 is the same Greek compound verb translated “confirming” here. In both verses, support makes disciples firm enough to continue, revealing strengthening as the establishing of a shared path.
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