What Does Acts 25:22 Mean in the King James?
Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man myself. To morrow, said he, thou shalt hear 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 same Greek verb for “hear” appears in both the request and the reply: firsthand hearing is promised, not just a report.
THE MEANING
The verse makes direct hearing matter: knowing a report about someone is not the same as hearing that person speak. The hearing is not withheld; the answer sets it for tomorrow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that secondhand knowledge is equal to hearing the person directly. “The man myself” exposes the gap.
THE ROOT
ἀκούω
akouō
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
Hear; listen; receive through hearing.
Both clauses use forms of ἀκούω: Agrippa wants to hear the man, and Festus says he will hear him. This word family also includes ἀκοή, “hearing” or “report,” and ὑπακούω, “listen” or “obey”: hearing can stretch from receiving a voice toward responding to it, though this verse leaves the response open.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; a report.
ἀκοή
The branch names both the act of hearing and a report, sharpening the difference in “the man myself”: a report is not the speaker’s own voice.
hypakouō: Listen; obey.
ὑπακούω
This branch shows how hearing can move toward response; here, the verse gives the hearing a time but leaves Agrippa’s response unstated.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places hearing before a responsible response to another person’s words.
He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.THE THREAD
Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?John 7:51 uses the same ἀκούω (akouō, “hear”) word family in a question about judgment: can someone be judged before being heard? That shared root opens Agrippa’s wish to hear “the man myself” as more than curiosity, hearing the person directly comes before weighing what is said.
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