What Does Acts 21:35 Mean in the King James?
And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people.
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
Here, violence takes away a person’s movement, and the word “borne” makes the body’s forced carrying visible.
THE MEANING
When violence reaches your body, it can take movement out of your hands and place you in another’s. Being carried here is a bodily consequence of force, not proof that you chose to stop moving.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being carried does not mean you chose dependence; here the crowd’s violence forces the transfer.
THE ROOT
βαστάζω
bastazō
GROWS FROM
βασταζ-
To carry or bear a load; to support or endure weight.
The verb keeps the body’s weight in view: Paul is not simply moved along but borne by others because the crowd’s violence overwhelms his movement. The same verb can describe carrying another’s burden or bearing a cross, so the verb names the transfer of weight while the surrounding circumstances show its force.
ALSO GROWS
bastazōn: Bearing or carrying; used of Jesus bearing his cross in John 19:17.
βαστάζων
The same verb puts the body’s load at the center, though there Jesus bears and here Paul is borne.
bastazete: Bear or carry; used of bearing one another’s burdens in Galatians 6:2.
βαστάζετε
The verb also describes shared support, revealing how the relationship around the carrying changes its character.
βία
bia
GROWS FROM
βια-
Force or physical pressure; violence.
Here βία is force acting on a body, not merely a label for wrongdoing. Related Greek forms describe something forceful or someone pressing by force, making the crowd’s violence the immediate cause of Paul’s being carried.
ALSO GROWS
biaios: Forceful or violent; used in Acts 2:2 for the “rushing mighty wind.”
βίαιος
The related form describes force in motion, sharpening the physical pressure carried by βία here.
biastēs: A person who uses force; used in Matthew 11:12 for “the violent.”
βιαστής
This related word names the agent of force, echoing the people whose violence makes Paul’s carrying necessary.
THE PATTERN
The act of bearing transfers weight from one body to another, while the relationship determines whether that transfer is force, burden, or support.
And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.THE THREAD
And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:The same verb, βαστάζω (bastazō), appears for Jesus bearing the cross, while here it is used of Paul being borne by soldiers. The verb keeps the weight and bodily carrying visible: in one verse Jesus carries, and in the other Paul is carried under violence.
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