What Does Acts 4:8 Mean in the King James?
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
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
Peter’s speech begins with the breath that fills him, before he addresses those whose title names them as rulers.
THE MEANING
You can stand among people who carry recognized authority without their rank defining where your voice comes from. Peter is filled with the Set-Apart Breath before he speaks to the rulers and elders. The verse locates his answer in a fullness he receives.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This unsettles the belief that only people with official rank can speak with authority: Peter is filled and speaking while the rulers and elders hear him.
THE ROOT
πνεύματος ἁγίου
pneumatos hagiou
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
πνεῦμα (pneuma) means breath; ἅγιος (hagios) means set apart. Together the phrase means the Set-Apart Breath. The root means to blow or breathe.
“Holy Ghost” in this verse is pneumatos hagiou. Under the familiar wording is a word for breath, with related words for blowing and what pertains to breath. The verse pictures Peter receiving the Set-Apart Breath before he speaks.
ALSO GROWS
pnoē: breath; a blowing
πνοή
This related word keeps the breath-and-blowing sense concrete, showing the image carried by what fills Peter.
pneumatikos: pertaining to pneuma, the breath
πνευματικός
This branch shows the same word family describing what is shaped by or belongs to the breath.
πλησθείς
plēstheis
GROWS FROM
πίμπλημι
pimplēmi
To fill, make full.
“filled” in this verse is plēstheis. The verb form is passive: Peter is presented as receiving fullness, and his speech follows that filling. The image links the Set-Apart Breath with a source of speech that comes to him.
ALSO GROWS
plērēs: full; filled
πλήρης
This related word names the state of fullness that the verb describes coming upon Peter.
plēroō: fill; make full
πληρόω
This verb carries the same movement toward fullness, giving depth to the verse’s image of Peter being filled.
ἄρχοντες
archontes
GROWS FROM
ἄρχω
archō
To rule, be first; to begin.
“rulers” in this verse is archontes. The title carries the sense of precedence as well as office. The verse places that recognized priority beside Peter’s received fullness, so institutional standing is not the only authority present.
ALSO GROWS
archē: beginning; rule; authority
ἀρχή
This related noun links being first with holding rule, adding a sense of precedence to the rulers’ title.
archēgos: leader; founder
ἀρχηγός
This branch names one who leads or goes first, echoing the precedence carried by the title.
THE PATTERN
When a person must speak under pressure, the decisive source of speech is what is given to the speaker.
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.THE THREAD
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:The phrase rendered “the Holy Ghost” here and in Acts 4:8 uses the same Greek noun, πνεῦμα (pneuma, breath). John places that word beside Jesus breathing on them, making the breath within the phrase visible and opening Peter’s filling as breath received.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us