What Does Acts 4:13 Mean in the King James?
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
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
Unlearned speech can carry a courage that credentials cannot explain, because presence with Jesus leaves a visible mark.
THE MEANING
People can see your lack of credentials and still encounter a courage that status cannot explain. Being with Jesus takes visible form in the way you speak; his presence becomes the explanation others recognize beneath the label unlearned.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that only formal learning can authorize true speech dissolves here: the observers see the absence of letters and unmistakable boldness in the same people.
THE ROOT
παρρησία
parrēsia
GROWS FROM
ῥησ-
rhēs-
speech, utterance
The speech element in παρρησία points to frank, open speaking. The boldness here is not merely force of personality; it is speech made plain and visible, even without the credentials people expect to authorize it.
ALSO GROWS
rhēsis: speech, utterance
ῥῆσις
This is the speech element at the heart of παρρησία: the boldness is expressed through open speech.
parrēsiazomai: speak freely, speak boldly
παρρησιάζομαι
This verb carries the same speech family into the act of speaking openly.
ἀγράμματοι
agrammatoi
GROWS FROM
γραμμα
gramma
letter, written character
“unlearned” in this verse is agrammatoi. The word marks people as without letters or formal learning; it does not say that they lack intelligence. That absence stands beside their striking boldness, and the observers ultimately recognize the company that has shaped them.
ALSO GROWS
gramma: letter, written character
γράμμα
The word names the letters whose formal learning the observers see Peter and John as lacking.
grammateus: scribe, one trained in letters
γραμματεύς
This related word names a person defined by literacy, making the contrast with ἀγράμματοι visible.
grammatikos: trained in letters, learned
γραμματικός
This branch keeps the same letter-root and clarifies the formal learning absent from the description.
THE PATTERN
Presence can make a person’s words carry recognizable authority where formal credentials are absent.
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?THE THREAD
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?John uses ἀγράμματος (agrammatos, unlettered), the singular form from the same word family as Acts’ ἀγράμματοι (agrammatoi, unlettered). In John the question meets Jesus himself; in Acts the same absence of letters meets recognition that these men have been with him, linking both scenes of amazement to authority that credentials cannot explain.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us