What Does Acts 22:19 Mean in the King James?
And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
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 people he confines are not nameless opponents but people leaning their trust on the Lord.
THE MEANING
You hear the speaker say that others know he confined and struck people in every synagogue because they trusted the Lord. Their trust and the physical harm sit side by side, so the religious setting does not blur the violence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that violence becomes harmless when done in a religious setting: the speaker names confinement and beating as harm to people who trust the Lord.
THE ROOT
πιστεύοντας
pisteuontas
GROWS FROM
πιστ-
pist-
Trust, confidence, and reliance.
The Greek describes people placing their trust upon the Lord. This word-family holds both the act of trusting and the quality of being reliable, revealing a relationship of reliance beneath the English phrase “believed on.”
ALSO GROWS
pistis: Trust, confidence
πίστις
This noun shares the word-family and makes clear that their belief is trust placed in someone.
pistos: Trustworthy, firm, steady
πιστός
The same family describes what can be relied upon, illuminating the trust these people place on the Lord.
φυλακίζων
phylakizōn
GROWS FROM
φυλακ-
phylak-
Guarding, keeping watch, and custody.
“imprisoned” in this verse is phylakizōn. This word belongs to the family of guarding and custody: keeping someone under watch becomes putting them in prison. The verse names deliberate confinement, not a passing clash.
ALSO GROWS
phylassō: Guard, keep watch
φυλάσσω
Its shared family shows the custody carried in the act of imprisoning.
phylakē: Guarding, watch, prison
φυλακή
This branch can name both keeping watch and the place of confinement, holding custody and imprisonment together.
δέρων
derōn
GROWS FROM
δερ-
der-
To skin or flay; by extension, to beat.
The verb can mean to beat and carries the more visceral sense of flaying or skinning. Its word-family keeps bodily violence visible: this is harm done to people, not an abstract disagreement.
ALSO GROWS
derma: Skin, hide
δέρμα
The shared root makes the bodily surface implicit in the verb’s violence.
dermatinos: Made of skin or leather
δερμάτινος
This related word preserves the root’s concrete connection to skin and keeps the force of “beat” from becoming vague.
THE PATTERN
When trust or a message is treated as a threat, those with authority can turn gathering places and custody into instruments of bodily force.
Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.THE THREAD
As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.The same custody-family appears here as people are committed to prison, while Acts 22:19 places the imprisoning in the speaker’s own admission. The shared root holds the confined people and the person responsible for their confinement in one line of sight.
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