What Does Acts 2:16 Mean in the King James?
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
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 Greek word for prophet is built around speaking, so Acts presents Joel’s utterance as speech arriving in the present.
THE MEANING
This moment is recognized through a word already spoken. That prophetic speech remains present for the reader, giving language to what is unfolding now. The verse locates recognition in a voice that still speaks.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that prophetic words belong to a sealed past and cannot speak to what is happening now.
THE ROOT
προφήτου
prophētou
GROWS FROM
φη
φη (phē): speak, say, declare.
προφήτου (prophētou, “prophet”) belongs to the φη (phē, “speak, say”) word family: φημί (phēmi, “say”) and προφητεύω (prophēteuō, “prophesy”) carry that speaking stem. The Greek keeps the action of speaking audible: the word spoken through Joel is what the verse identifies as happening now.
ALSO GROWS
phēmi: to say, declare
φημί
It shares the φη speaking stem and makes explicit the action carried in “prophet.”
prophēteuō: to prophesy, speak prophetically
προφητεύω
It uses the same φη family in the verb for prophetic speech, showing the prophet’s name and the act of speaking belong together.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word gives the present a frame through which it can be recognized.
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.THE THREAD
But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.The Greek for “prophesieth” is προφητεύων (prophēteuōn, “prophesies”), from the same φη (phē, “speak, say”) family as προφήτου (prophētou, “prophet”). This shared root lets Acts’ phrase about Joel’s speech open into prophetic speech as a voice still addressing people in the present.
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