What Does Acts 20:28 Mean in the King James?
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
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 translated “feed” means “shepherd,” so the flock and the work entrusted to its overseers share the same root-family.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you as someone entrusted with careful attention: to yourself and to the whole flock. The Spirit appoints overseers to shepherd God’s assembly, which belongs to him and is valued in the verse through the cost of his own blood.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that spiritual authority makes people the leader’s possession: the flock belongs to God, and oversight is accountable tending.
THE ROOT
ποιμαίνειν
poimainein
GROWS FROM
ποιμ-
poim-
The Greek shepherd-and-flock word family; ποιμαίνω means to shepherd or tend.
The word translated “feed” is ποιμαίνω, “to shepherd”: it names the full work of tending a flock, not simply supplying food. The verse has already called the people a “flock,” then uses a verb from the same word-family for the care of God’s assembly, an echo the English translation obscures.
ALSO GROWS
poimēn: shepherd
ποιμήν
The related noun reveals the shepherding image inside the verb translated “feed.”
poimnion: flock
ποίμνιον
This related noun is the word translated “flock” earlier in the verse, linking the people and their care through the same word-family.
THE PATTERN
The care entrusted to a shepherd is measured by whether the flock is tended and protected rather than consumed.
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;THE THREAD
He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.“Feed” here translates ποιμαίνω, the same Greek verb behind “to feed” in Acts 20:28. The shared word reveals that the charge reaches beyond providing food: it is the work of shepherding the flock.
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