What Does Acts 2:19 Mean in the King James?

And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:

Acts 2:19 · KJV

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 visible disturbance is a sign: it makes what is otherwise unseen legible.

THE MEANING

You live in a world where what is above and what is beneath can both carry disclosure. Blood, fire, and smoke are the forms named here, keeping the sign material and unsettling rather than abstract.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that revelation must look gentle or reassuring: the visible forms here include blood, fire, and smoke.

THE ROOT

σημεῖα

sēmeia

GROWS FROM

σῆμα

sēma

A mark, sign, or token, something that indicates.

English can make a sign sound like a label attached to an event, but its root is a mark or token that points. The signs do more than startle: they make what is otherwise unseen legible through what appears above and beneath.

ALSO GROWS

sēmeion: A sign, mark, or token.

σημεῖον

This singular form underlies the verse’s plural “signs,” presenting each visible event as a mark that can be read.

sēmainō: To signal, indicate, or make known.

σημαίνω

This related verb brings out the sign’s communicative force: what appears points beyond itself.

THE PATTERN

An extraordinary display can become a sign, but its visible force alone does not determine how it is read.

And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 7:3 · KJVThe verse pairs signs with wonders, showing extraordinary events as visible marks within what unfolds.

Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

John 4:48 · KJVHere, signs and wonders are made a condition for belief, showing that people can respond to what they see in different ways.

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:

Acts 2:22 · KJVThe signs and wonders appear through deeds in the hearers’ midst, making the disclosure tangible.

THE THREAD

And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

Revelation 13:14 · KJV

Here, “miracles” renders the same Greek word ⁨σημεῖα⁩ (sēmeia, “signs”) that appears in Acts 2:19. The shared root reveals that visible signs do not validate their source by themselves; what they serve matters.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us