What Does Acts 3:23 Mean in the King James?
And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
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 Greek says “out” twice: refusal to hear meets a threat of utter removal from among the people.
THE MEANING
This verse addresses you as a whole living person: refusing to hear the prophet carries the stated consequence of utter destruction and removal from among the people. The sentence holds that threat in full view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a person can refuse the prophet and remain untouched among the people; the verse names destruction and removal.
THE ROOT
ἐξολεθρευθήσεται
exolethreuthēsetai
GROWS FROM
ὀλοθρευ-
olothreu-
To ruin or destroy utterly; the verb begins with a prefix meaning “out.”
“destroyed” in this verse is exolethreuthēsetai. The verb carries an out-prefix, and the sentence immediately says the person is removed from among the people. That repeated direction makes the warning’s end point explicit: utter destruction with separation from the people.
ALSO GROWS
olethros: Ruin, destruction
ὄλεθρος
This related noun gives the verse’s consequence the weight of ruin.
olothreuō: Destroy utterly
ὀλοθρεύω
This verb shares the base action carried into the verse’s future passive form.
ἀκούσῃ
akousē
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
To hear, listen, or heed.
The word family reaches from hearing and report to heeding and obeying, so hearing here is bound to response. Refusal to hear the prophet is more than sound failing to reach the ear; it is refusal of the spoken word.
ALSO GROWS
akoē: Hearing; a report or message
ἀκοή
The shared root links hearing with the message a person receives.
hypakouō: Heed, obey
ὑπακούω
This related verb carries the hearing-root into response, illuminating what refusal to hear entails.
ψυχή
psychē
GROWS FROM
ψυχ-
psych-
Life, the living self, or person.
Here “every soul” reaches every living person, keeping life and self together in the phrase. Each person is named individually and placed within the people from whom the verse says refusal cuts them off.
ALSO GROWS
psychikos: Natural; pertaining to the living self
ψυχικός
This related form helps show the word’s range around the living person, not only an inner abstraction.
oligopsychos: Fainthearted; literally, small-souled
ὀλιγόψυχος
This compound treats the living self as the whole person whose state can be described.
THE PATTERN
Refusing a prophetic word carries consequences that reach beyond private belief into a person’s standing before the people.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;THE THREAD
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.The line just before names Moses’ promised prophet and says, “him shall ye hear.” The same Greek hear-root becomes the dividing point in the next verse, where refusal carries the threat of removal.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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