What Does Acts 25:6 Mean in the King James?
And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto Cæsarea; and the next day sitting on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought.
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 for “judgment seat” belongs to the Greek step-and-going word family, echoing the verse’s movement down to Caesarea before Paul is summoned before authority.
THE MEANING
Power becomes concrete here: a seated ruler gives an order, and Paul is brought within reach of judgment. The waiting ends with a person summoned into the space where authority acts.
THE ROOT
βῆμα
bēma
GROWS FROM
βαιν- (from βαίνω, bainō)
Step, go; βῆμα can mean a step or raised platform, and in this verse, a tribunal.
The verse also says the ruler “went down” to Caesarea, using καταβαίνω (katabainō), from the same step-and-going word family. English presents the journey and the judgment seat as separate details, while Greek echoes movement in both: the ruler goes down, then Paul is brought before a raised place of authority.
ALSO GROWS
katabainō: Go down, descend.
καταβαίνω
The verse uses this word for the ruler’s descent to Caesarea, echoing the step-and-going family behind βῆμα.
anabainō: Go up, ascend.
ἀναβαίνω
This compound uses the same verb with a different direction, showing how Greek builds movement words from the shared step-and-going base.
THE PATTERN
Judgment takes visible form when a person is summoned before an authority seated on a raised platform.
And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto Cæsarea; and the next day sitting on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought.When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.THE THREAD
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.“Judgment seat” translates the same Greek word, βῆμα (bēma), in both verses. Here Paul is summoned before a governor’s tribunal; Romans uses that word for the place before which all stand, widening the scene beyond one person’s hearing.
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