What Does Acts 28:7 Mean in the King James?
In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously.
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 “lodged” grows from the word for “stranger” or “guest,” so the travelers are received as guests, not merely given shelter.
THE MEANING
Welcome takes shape through real space, time, and considerate care: the travelers are received and lodged for three days. The verse holds that kind of welcome open as a living reality, where a household makes room for others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A stranger must first become familiar or useful before being welcomed; here, welcome begins with their arrival.
THE ROOT
ἐξένισεν
exenisen
GROWS FROM
ξεν-
xen-
stranger; guest
The root ξεν- holds both the stranger and the guest: the person arriving from outside becomes the person received into a household. “Lodged” therefore carries more than shelter; the travelers receive the place and care of guests for three days.
ALSO GROWS
xenos: stranger; guest
ξένος
The same word can name someone from outside and someone welcomed as a guest, joining arrival with reception.
philoxenia: hospitality; love of strangers
φιλοξενία
This word makes the welcome explicit: hospitality is care directed toward the stranger.
xenodocheō: receive or lodge strangers
ξενοδοχέω
This related verb names the act of hosting strangers, showing how the root moves from the guest to the welcome given.
THE PATTERN
Hospitality turns another person’s need into shared space, time, and provision.
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.THE THREAD
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.Hebrews uses φιλοξενία (philoxenia), hospitality or love of strangers, which shares the ξεν- (xen-) root with “lodged” here. The shared root lets the verse’s “stranger” become a “guest” through the act of welcome.
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