What Does Acts 23:4 Mean in the King James?
And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God’s high priest?
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 question makes the priest’s title the measure of Paul’s words, linking an insult to the office with an offense against God.
THE MEANING
A challenge to speech against a sacred office can redirect attention from the dispute to the speaker’s manner. Here, the charge reaches beyond the person addressed because the office is named as God’s high priest.
THE ROOT
λοιδορεῖς
loidoreis
GROWS FROM
λοιδορ-
To abuse or insult with words.
“Revilest” in this verse is loidoreis. The word belongs to a family that names both abusive speech and the person who uses it, so the accusation classifies Paul’s words as reviling. The verse shows how the priest’s title makes the manner of address the immediate issue, while leaving the dispute itself unresolved.
ALSO GROWS
loidoria: Reviling; abusive speech
λοιδορία
The noun names the kind of speech the bystanders hear in Paul’s words.
loidoros: A reviler; an abusive person
λοιδορός
This related word names the speaker by the same kind of speech attributed to Paul here.
THE PATTERN
Speech against a sacred office is treated as speech against the authority it represents.
Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.THE THREAD
Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.The next verse gives Paul’s answer: he cites the command against speaking evil of the people’s ruler. The citation shows that the objection concerns how speech relates to an office, not only to the person holding it.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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