What Does Acts 23:32 Mean in the King James?
On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle:
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 departure of some does not mean the forward passage has lost its escort.
THE MEANING
Your route can continue with company even as that company changes: some turn back while others go on with you. One group’s return does not cancel the forward movement still beside you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this loosens is that everyone who began the journey with you must remain for the journey to be protected. Here, the company changes while Paul is still accompanied.
THE ROOT
ὑποστρέφω
hypostrephō
GROWS FROM
στρέφω
strephō
turn, turn around
The English “returned” carries the destination; στρέφω adds the motion of turning back. The verse holds two directions at once: the horsemen continue with Paul, while the others turn toward the fortress.
ALSO GROWS
epistrephō: turn toward; return
ἐπιστρέφω
The same turning motion can be directed back toward a person or place.
apostrephō: turn away; turn aside
ἀποστρέφω
This branch shows how a turn can create separation from another route.
ἀπελθεῖν
apelthein
GROWS FROM
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
come, go
“go with him” in this verse is apelthein. The verb ἀπέρχομαι adds the sense of going away or departing to the basic motion of ἔρχομαι. The horsemen’s movement is onward with Paul, distinct from the others’ turn back.
ALSO GROWS
eiserchomai: enter, go in
εἰσέρχομαι
The same motion verb can point inward when its prefix directs it toward a place.
exerchomai: go out, depart
ἐξέρχομαι
This branch makes the outward direction explicit, echoing the horsemen’s continued departure with Paul.
THE PATTERN
A journey can continue through a parting, with movement taking more than one direction.
Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.THE THREAD
And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida.Luke 9:10 uses the same Greek verb, ὑποστρέφω (hypostrephō, to return or turn back), for the apostles’ return. The shared root makes the turning back visible; here the escort turns back while Paul’s road continues.
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