What Does Acts 21:32 Mean in the King James?
Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul.
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 beating ends at the sight of armed authority, so the text shows force halted without claiming the attackers have changed.
THE MEANING
You see the crowd’s blows stop when the commander and soldiers come into view. The verse names a change in action, not a change of heart: the mob ceases beating Paul, and the stopping follows their recognition of authority.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that harm ends only when the people causing it change inwardly is undone here: the blows stop when armed authority appears, while no repentance is named.
THE ROOT
ἐπαύσαντο
epaúsanto
GROWS FROM
παύω
pauō
To stop or bring to an end; in the middle voice, to cease.
The verb translated “left” means “ceased,” marking the moment the blows stop without softening the violence. This same verb describes the wind and water ceasing in Luke 8:24; here, cessation follows the sight of armed authority, so stopping is not the same as transformation.
ALSO GROWS
anapaúō: Give rest, refresh.
ἀναπαύω
This related verb carries the root from stopping toward respite: an interruption can open space for rest.
anápausis: Rest, respite.
ἀνάπαυσις
This noun names a state of rest formed from the same root, extending “cease” toward what follows when activity or distress is brought to a stop.
THE PATTERN
Violence against the vulnerable is interrupted when an intervening power acts or appears.
And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.THE THREAD
And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.Luke uses the same Greek verb for the crowd’s stopping here and the wind and water ceasing there. In this verse the stopping follows the sight of soldiers; in Luke 8:24 it follows Jesus’ rebuke, revealing the shared language of cessation without equating its causes.
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