What Does Acts 25:5 Mean in the King James?

Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able, go down with me, and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him.

Acts 25:5 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Greek word for “wickedness” pictures what is actually out of place in a person.

THE MEANING

A claim against you does not, by itself, establish that anything is wrong in you. The verse holds accusation and actual wrongdoing apart: what is said about a person still has to correspond to something present in that person.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Being accused means being guilty: this verse separates the charge from the wrong it claims is there.

THE ROOT

ἄτοπον

atopon

GROWS FROM

τόπος

topos

Place, position. ⁨ἄτοπος⁩ (atopos) combines ⁨τόπος⁩ with a negating prefix: out of place, improper, amiss.

The word translated “wickedness” carries the image of something amiss or out of place in the person. The charge is framed around whether such a wrong is actually there, not simply whether someone says it is.

ALSO GROWS

topos: Place, position, or appointed space.

τόπος

This is the base word that lets “amiss” carry the sense of something being out of its proper place.

atopos: Out of place, improper, or amiss.

ἄτοπος

This is the same Greek word used in the verse, making the alleged wrongdoing a specific wrongness present in the person.

THE PATTERN

An accusation gains substance only when a real wrong can be shown.

One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

Deuteronomy 19:15 · KJVThe charge does not establish itself; the matter must be confirmed by witnesses.

Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?

John 18:23 · KJVJesus distinguishes an accusation from evidence of the evil it alleges.

And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.

Acts 25:7 · KJVMany serious complaints remain unsubstantiated when the accusers cannot prove them.

THE THREAD

And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.

Luke 23:41 · KJV

“Amiss” here translates the same Greek word, ⁨ἄτοπος⁩ (atopos), rendered “wickedness” in Acts. The shared word makes the connection exact: the question is whether anything out of place can truly be found in the person accused.

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