What Does Acts 20:36 Mean in the King James?
And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.
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
Prayer begins with a placing: he sets his knees down and enters the shared moment with his whole body.
THE MEANING
Your prayer can involve your body and other people: here, knees lower and prayer is shared with everyone present. Prayer is something you can enter together, not only an inward thought.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that prayer must be solitary and disembodied gives way here: prayer happens with others present, and the body takes part.
THE ROOT
θεὶς τὰ γόνατα
theis ta gonata
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
to put, place, or set
“kneeled down” in this verse is theis ta gonata. Kneeling has a literal placing in it: θεὶς τὰ γόνατα (theis ta gonata, “having set the knees”) uses τίθημι (tithēmi, “to put or place”). Its compounds preserve the same action of putting something aside or laying it upon something, so prayer opens with a physical placement.
ALSO GROWS
apotithēmi: put aside; lay aside
ἀποτίθημι
The prefix directs the same placing action away, showing how this root can mark where something is set.
epitithēmi: put or lay upon
ἐπιτίθημι
The prefix directs the placing action onto something; here, the knees too are deliberately set into position.
THE PATTERN
Prayer takes bodily form through kneeling or bowing.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,THE THREAD
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,Luke uses the same Greek construction as Acts: the knees are set down, then prayer follows. In Acts the prayer is shared with everyone present; in Luke the posture appears in solitude, showing that this embodied act can hold both company and aloneness.
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