What Does Acts 20:23 Mean in the King James?
Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
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 Set-Apart Breath does not promise a pressure-free road; it names the squeeze waiting ahead.
THE MEANING
The Set-Apart Breath speaks in every place you go, and its witness can name restraint and pressure before they arrive. Its nearness does not guarantee an untroubled road; it gives truth about the road while you are on it. The verse holds the witness and the hardship together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that if the Set-Apart Breath is present, nothing painful or constraining can await you. Here, its witness includes a clear warning rather than a promise of ease.
THE ROOT
θλίψεις
thlipseis
GROWS FROM
θλίβω
thlibō
to press, squeeze, compress
The Greek word for afflictions grows from a verb meaning to press or squeeze, giving the hardship the feel of pressure bearing in. The English can make it sound like a broad category; the root makes the squeeze itself visible.
ALSO GROWS
thlibō: to press, squeeze, or afflict
θλίβω
This verb names the pressing action behind the noun: distress bears down like pressure.
tethlimmenē: pressed, hemmed in
τεθλιμμένη
Matthew 7:14 uses this form for the way leading to life, showing how the same word family can describe a constrained path as well as distress.
πνεῦμα
pneuma
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
to breathe, to blow
“Holy Ghost” in this verse is pneuma. The word πνεῦμα (pneuma) means breath or wind, from the same family as the verb for breathing or blowing. The KJV word “Ghost” carries this breath-and-wind vocabulary beneath it: the Set-Apart Breath itself bears witness and names the pressure ahead.
ALSO GROWS
pneō: to breathe or blow
πνέω
This verb links the word for breath with moving air, holding breath and wind together in one word family.
pnoē: breath or blowing
πνοή
This related noun appears in Acts 2:2, echoing the same breath-and-wind vocabulary.
THE PATTERN
The divine presence can name pressure without making pressure the whole story.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.THE THREAD
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.John’s θλῖψιν (thlipsin, tribulation) and Acts’ θλίψεις (thlipseis, afflictions) are forms of the same noun, θλῖψις (thlipsis, pressure or affliction). John places that pressure beside wholeness in Jesus, opening Acts’ warning as truthful naming rather than a claim that hardship has the final word.
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