What Does Acts 20:26 Mean in the King James?
Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
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
Here “pure” is clean of blood-guilt: the next verse ties that cleanness to withholding none of what was entrusted to speak.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to accountability: a person stands clear of the blood of others when they have not withheld the message entrusted to them. The next verse makes the measure concrete, the full counsel is spoken, while the messenger does not own every hearer’s response.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that you must control another person’s response to be clear of their blood; the speaker’s accountability lies in whether the entrusted message was withheld.
THE ROOT
καθαρός
katharos
GROWS FROM
καθαρ-
kathar-
Clean, pure, free from defilement.
The Greek word καθαρός (katharos, “clean; pure”) makes this a claim of being clear of blood-guilt. The following verse connects that cleanness to speaking the whole counsel entrusted to the speaker.
ALSO GROWS
katharizō: To make clean or purify.
καθαρίζω
Its shared stem shows cleanness as the state that follows cleansing; here the speaker claims to stand clear of blood-guilt.
katharsis: Cleansing or purification.
κάθαρσις
This branch keeps the image of cleanness active: the verse concerns what leaves a person clear of another’s blood.
μαρτύρομαι
marturomai
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
To bear witness or testify.
The phrase translated “take you to record” uses a witness-family verb: the speaker is testifying before others. Its shared root with “witness” and “testimony” makes the declaration itself an accountable act.
ALSO GROWS
martys: A witness who bears testimony.
μάρτυς
The speaker’s claim is made as testimony, not as a private judgment.
martyria: Witness or testimony.
μαρτυρία
The word family links the declaration to a public account of what was spoken.
THE PATTERN
Blood-guilt marks responsibility for a withheld warning or testimony, while spoken warning leaves the hearer’s response in its own place.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.THE THREAD
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.This verse names why the speaker can claim to be clear of all men’s blood: nothing in the entrusted counsel has been held back. The image of purity is tied to complete testimony.
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