What Does Acts 21:30 Mean in the King James?
And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.
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 crowd pulls Paul across the temple boundary, and the doors close at once, making his expulsion physical and complete.
THE MEANING
A whole city can be stirred into one motion, and that motion can become force against a single body. Paul is taken, pulled beyond the temple boundary, and shut out as the doors close. The scene speaks wherever collective motion decides who is allowed inside.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A crowd moving together does not prove that its target belongs outside. Shared urgency can close a door without revealing the truth.
THE ROOT
εἷλκον
heilkon
GROWS FROM
ἑλκ
helk
to pull, draw, or drag
The KJV’s “drew” carries the bodily force of pulling or dragging. The same verb describes the poor being dragged before judges, so Paul’s removal is an act done to his body, not a voluntary departure.
ALSO GROWS
helkō: pull, draw, or drag
ἕλκω
This form makes the physical force of the crowd’s action explicit.
helkyō: draw or drag
ἑλκύω
This related form carries the same pull of one body by another.
ἐκλείσθησαν
ekleisthēsan
GROWS FROM
κλει
klei
to close, shut, or enclose
“shut” in this verse is ekleisthēsan. The κλει- family carries both shutting and the key that opens: the closed doors determine who has access. Their shutting is part of the expulsion, turning the crowd’s removal of Paul into a barrier behind him.
ALSO GROWS
kleis: key or bolt
κλείς
The same word family links closing a door with the means of opening it.
synkleio: shut in or enclose
συγκλείω
This branch shows how closing can become confinement.
THE PATTERN
When a group makes one person the bearer of its conflict, collective action can turn into bodily removal.
And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar.THE THREAD
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?James uses the same verb for the rich dragging the poor before the courts. That shared root lets “drew” here carry its full bodily force: Paul is hauled across a boundary by others.
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