What Does Acts 21:31 Mean in the King James?
And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.
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 behind “uproar” pictures a pouring-together: the attempt to kill one person spills into the confusion of an entire city.
THE MEANING
A threat against one person does not remain private: it gathers a whole city into confusion and reaches the authority overseeing the crowd. Violence against one body becomes a crisis the whole city can feel.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The danger to one person is private and contained.
THE ROOT
συγχύνεται
synchynetai
GROWS FROM
χέω
To pour; with σύν, to pour together, mix, or confound.
The Greek word translated “is in an uproar” carries an image of things being poured together until they are confused. The verse shows violence aimed at one person becoming a disorder that engulfs the whole city.
ALSO GROWS
syncheō: Pour together; confuse or confound.
συγχέω
This is the verb family behind the verse’s word for uproar, revealing the image beneath the English.
synchysis: Confusion or disorder.
σύγχυσις
Acts 19:29 uses this related noun for a city filled with confusion, showing the same root image at work in another public disturbance.
ekcheō: Pour out.
ἐκχέω
This form shares the root of pouring; its prefix changes the direction, while the root keeps the image of something flowing outward.
THE PATTERN
When shared order is overwhelmed, disorder spreads beyond its immediate targets and takes hold of the whole city.
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.Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.THE THREAD
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.The Greek verb συγχέω (syncheō, to pour together or confound) appears in the Greek form of “confound” here and shares the word family behind “uproar” in Acts 21:31. Babel’s language is confounded and its people scattered; in Acts, violence draws Jerusalem into a citywide disturbance.
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