What Does Acts 25:15 Mean in the King James?
About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him.
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 word translated “judgment” already carries the force of condemnation, so the request arrives pointed toward a verdict against him.
THE MEANING
An accusation can be brought into view while already aimed at a particular outcome. You can see the difference between reporting a charge and proving it: the request is against him, but the verse does not say that the request makes its case true.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A demand for condemnation is not the same as a settled judgment. Being accused does not, by itself, make the accusation true.
THE ROOT
καταδίκην
katadikēn
GROWS FROM
δικ- (dik-), in κατά + δίκη (kata + dikē)
δίκη (dikē) means justice, judgment, or a judicial claim; the compound καταδίκη (katadikē) means condemnation.
The Greek καταδίκη (katadikē, condemnation) gives “judgment” an explicitly adverse direction. Its δίκη (dikē, justice or judgment) root also appears in words for doing justice and being aligned, but here the compound names a verdict sought against someone.
ALSO GROWS
dikē: Justice, judgment, or a judicial claim
δίκη
This is the base word within καταδίκη (katadikē, condemnation), showing how a claim for justice can become a demand for a verdict against someone.
ekdikeō: Do justice, avenge, or vindicate
ἐκδικέω
Luke 18:3 uses this same word family when a widow asks for justice against her adversary, linking the root to claims made from very different positions.
dikaiosynē: Alignment; justice
δικαιοσύνη
This related word carries the sense of alignment, widening the root’s reach beyond a court verdict to what is rightly ordered.
ἐνεφάνισαν
enephanisan
GROWS FROM
φαν-
phan-
To appear or show; in this word, to make known or report.
“informed” in this verse is enephanisan. The report brings a matter into view, but appearing before an authority is not the same as being proved. The verse keeps the report and the requested condemnation distinct.
ALSO GROWS
phainō: Appear or show
φαίνω
This root family gives the act of reporting the sense of making something visible to another.
phaneroō: Make visible or manifest
φανερόω
This related verb highlights the movement from what is not yet in view to what is disclosed, without itself deciding whether the disclosed claim is true.
THE PATTERN
A request for judgment does not settle a case; justice requires the account to be heard and tested.
And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?THE THREAD
And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.Acts uses καταδίκη (katadikē, condemnation), built on the same δίκη (dikē, justice or judgment) family that appears in ἐκδίκησον (ekdikēson, do justice or avenge) in Luke. The shared root links this demand for a verdict against someone with a widow’s demand for justice against her adversary; the root names the claim, while the context shows whose justice is being sought.
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