What Does Acts 20:35 Mean in the King James?
I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
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 Greek word for “support” shares its root with “receive”: flourishing turns taking hold toward the weak.
THE MEANING
The verse places your flourishing in the movement of what you hold toward the one who is weak. In Greek, “support” carries the image of taking hold on another’s behalf, so giving is strength made available. Jesus’ words name this outward movement as more flourishing than receiving.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that receiving more is the surest measure of a full life: here, greater flourishing belongs to giving.
THE ROOT
ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι
antilambanesthai
GROWS FROM
λαμβάνω
lambanō
To take hold, take, or receive; in the compound, to take hold for another, hence to help or support.
The word translated “support” carries the root of the verse’s “receive.” English separates helping from receiving, while Greek links both to taking hold, the difference is that support takes hold on behalf of the weak.
ALSO GROWS
lambanō: Take, receive, or get.
λαμβάνω
This is the base verb behind “receive” in the same verse, joining support and receiving at the root.
antilēmpsis: Helps or acts of assistance.
ἀντιλήμψεις
This related noun names help as a form of taking hold for another.
μακάριον
makarion
GROWS FROM
μακαρ
makar
Flourishing, fortunate, or in a state of well-being.
“blessed” in this verse is makarion. The verse describes giving as more flourishing, not as a transaction that guarantees a reward. Its measure of well-being appears in what reaches the weak through you.
ALSO GROWS
makarios: Flourishing or blessed.
μακάριος
This related adjective names the state Jesus associates here with giving.
makarizō: Call someone flourishing or blessed.
μακαρίζω
The verb shows how this word family can name the recognition of flourishing.
διδόναι
didonai
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
didōmi
To give, grant, or place.
“give” in this verse is didonai. The Greek sets giving beside receiving as two directions of movement. Read alongside “support,” giving becomes the movement by which what is held reaches the one who lacks strength.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: Giving or gift.
δόσις
This related noun carries the act of giving into a form that can be received.
doma: A gift or thing given.
δόμα
This branch names what comes from the movement of giving.
THE PATTERN
Flourishing moves through giving as what is held reaches another person’s need.
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.THE THREAD
He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;The Greek verb behind “support” is ἀντιλαμβάνομαι (antilambanomai, “take hold to help”), the same verb rendered “holpen” here. The root links support for the weak with God taking hold of Israel.
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