What Does Acts 25:13 Mean in the King James?

And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Cæsarea to salute Festus.

Acts 25:13 · 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.

THE KEY

The Greek word for “salute” carries the sense of welcoming someone, so the visit itself is an act of recognition.

THE MEANING

Agrippa and Bernice arrive in Caesarea to greet Festus. Their greeting gives the meeting a public shape before anything else is said about it. Here, acknowledgment is something people travel to enact.

THE ROOT

ἀσπασάμενοι

aspasamenoi

GROWS FROM

⁨ἀσπασ-⁩ (from ⁨ἀσπάζομαι⁩, aspazomai)

to greet or welcome; in some uses, to embrace

The word translated “salute” is ⁨ἀσπασάμενοι⁩ (aspasamenoi), from ⁨ἀσπάζομαι⁩ (aspazomai): to greet or welcome, sometimes to embrace. English “salute” can sound like a formal gesture, while the Greek word presents greeting as a welcome that meets another person; the visit itself becomes acknowledgment.

ALSO GROWS

aspasmos: greeting

ἀσπασμός

The related noun names the greeting itself, making the shared root visible in both the act and the encounter.

aspazomai: to greet, welcome

ἀσπάζομαι

This verb appears in other scenes of arrival and meeting, linking Festus’s greeting with a wider pattern of people welcoming one another.

THE PATTERN

A greeting makes recognition visible by turning arrival into relationship.

And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,

Genesis 18:2 · KJVAbraham responds to the visitors’ arrival by running to meet them and bowing, making his welcome visible in action.

And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.

Luke 1:40 · KJVMary’s arrival becomes an encounter through the same Greek greeting verb used of Agrippa and Bernice.

Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of Christ salute you.

Romans 16:16 · KJVThe greeting extends recognition beyond one meeting into a shared practice among communities.

THE THREAD

And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.

Acts 21:7 · KJV

The same Greek verb for greeting appears when the travelers reach Ptolemais and greet the believers. In both scenes, arrival becomes a personal encounter through welcome.

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