What Does Acts 22:29 Mean in the King James?

Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

Acts 22:29 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Once Paul’s Roman identity is known, the restraint meant to control him becomes the captain’s exposure.

THE MEANING

A person can be restrained without the restraint settling who holds power. Recognition changes the scene at once: those ready to examine Paul depart, and the captain who bound him becomes afraid. What was done remains real, but it no longer appears consequence-free.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that being in custody means the person holding you is safe from consequences.

THE ROOT

δέω

deō

GROWS FROM

δέω

deō

to bind or tie

English can make “bound” sound like a fixed condition, but ⁨δέω⁩ (deō, to bind or tie) names an act. Its related forms include ⁨δεσμός⁩ (desmos, a bond) and ⁨δέσμιος⁩ (desmios, a prisoner or bound person); here, the captain’s own act of binding becomes the source of his fear.

ALSO GROWS

desmos: bond, chain

δεσμός

The bond gives a concrete name to the restraint the captain ordered.

desmios: prisoner, a person held in bonds

δέσμιος

This branch names the person through the restraint placed on him.

ἀνακρίνω

anakrinō

GROWS FROM

κρίνω

krinō

to separate, decide, or judge

The word translated “examined” is ⁨ἀνακρίνω⁩ (anakrinō, to inquire into or examine), built on ⁨κρίνω⁩ (krinō, to decide or judge). Its family includes ⁨κρίσις⁩ (krisis, judgment) and ⁨κριτής⁩ (kritēs, judge); as the inquiry stops, the captain is left facing the consequence of his own decision.

ALSO GROWS

krisis: judgment, decision

κρίσις

It shows how inquiry can lead toward a judgment.

kritēs: judge

κριτής

The word family holds both the act of examining and the authority that judges.

THE PATTERN

Restraint can reverse when those holding power recognize the claim or consequence attached to the person they have seized.

Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

Daniel 6:14 · KJVThe king recognizes the danger to Daniel and labors to deliver the person his own decree has trapped.

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

Jeremiah 38:10 · KJVThe king’s command turns Jeremiah’s confinement toward removal once the danger to him is made plain.

But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.

Acts 16:37 · KJVOnce the magistrates hear that they beat and imprisoned Roman citizens without judgment, Paul makes them answer publicly for their actions.

THE THREAD

Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.

Acts 21:33 · KJV

The Greek verb ⁨δέω⁩ (deō, to bind) appears in both this order to bind Paul and the later account of why the captain is afraid. The repeated root links his command to its consequence: once Paul’s Roman status is known, the restraint the captain ordered exposes him.

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