What Does Acts 20:14 Mean in the King James?
And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.
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 word for “met” carries the sense of bringing things together, and the next action turns that meeting into a shared journey.
THE MEANING
A meeting can change who travels with you: one person is met at Assos, taken aboard, and included in the group’s arrival at Mitylene. Here, belonging takes a concrete form, a place in the journey.
THE ROOT
συνέβαλεν
synebalen
GROWS FROM
βαλλ-
ball-
The Greek verbal stem βαλλ- (ball-) carries the basic sense of throwing or putting.
“met” in this verse is synebalen. The verb συμβάλλω (symballō), “bring together” or “meet,” joins σύν (syn), “together,” with βάλλω (ballō), “throw” or “put.” The meeting is pictured as a convergence: separate travelers come together before continuing as one company.
ALSO GROWS
ballō: Throw, cast, put.
βάλλω
This is the basic verbal stem inside συμβάλλω, lending the meeting its image of things brought together.
symballō: Bring together, meet, confer.
συμβάλλω
This is the verb used here: the travelers come together at Assos.
ἀναλαβόντες
analabontes
GROWS FROM
λαμβαν-
lamban-
The verbal stem λαμβαν- (lamban-) carries the sense of taking or receiving.
“took him in” in this verse is analabontes. The form comes from ἀναλαμβάνω (analambanō), “take up” or “take along.” In the ship’s context, the meeting becomes tangible: they take him aboard and continue the route with him.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: Take, receive.
λαμβάνω
This is the base verb beneath the action of taking him along.
paralambanō: Take along, receive.
παραλαμβάνω
This related compound makes the sense of receiving someone into one’s company especially visible.
THE PATTERN
Receiving someone into the journey turns a meeting into shared movement toward a destination.
And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.THE THREAD
And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.Acts 20:13 uses ἀναλαμβάνω (analambanō), “take up” or “take along,” for the group’s plan to take Paul aboard. Verse 14 repeats that verb for the completed action after they meet at Assos: the planned reunion becomes the shared voyage.
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