What Does Acts 5:6 Mean in the King James?

And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

Acts 5:6 · KJV

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

Here, the Greek word family behind “resurrection” names a rise that leads to burial.

THE MEANING

The verse lets you see death as something the living encounter in a body: the young men rise, wrap the man, carry him out, and bury him. Their movement makes the loss concrete without softening it.

THE ROOT

ἀναστάντες

anastantes

GROWS FROM

⁨ἀνίστημι⁩ (anistēmi), built from ⁨ἀνά⁩ (ana, up) + ⁨ἵστημι⁩ (histēmi, stand)

To stand or rise up; in context, ⁨ἀνίστημι⁩ means to get up, and the same word family can also describe rising from the dead.

“arose” in this verse is anastantes. The young men literally get up to act, while this word family also names rising from the dead. That echo sharpens the scene without turning their action into resurrection: their rise serves the body’s burial.

ALSO GROWS

anastasis: rising; resurrection

ἀνάστασις

This noun names resurrection from the same rise-and-stand word family, revealing the echo hidden by the ordinary English “arose.”

anestēsan: they rose up; they stood

ἀνέστησαν

In Acts 15:5 this form describes people rising to speak, showing that the same verb can describe ordinary action as well as resurrection language.

συνέστειλαν

syneisteilan

GROWS FROM

⁨στέλλω⁩ (stellō, draw together, arrange, or send), joined with ⁨συν-⁩ (syn, together)

The compound ⁨συστέλλω⁩ carries the sense of drawing together or wrapping; ⁨στέλλω⁩ also has senses of arranging and sending.

English “wound him up” can sound mechanical, while ⁨συστέλλω⁩ means gathering or drawing together, here wrapping the body for burial. In 1 Corinthians 7:29 the same verb describes time as shortened or compressed, so wrapping and contraction share the language of drawing something in.

ALSO GROWS

synestalmenos: shortened; compressed

συνεσταλμένος

In 1 Corinthians 7:29 this form describes time as contracted; here the same verb’s draw-together sense is applied to the wrapped body.

apostellō: send out; dispatch

ἀποστέλλω

This compound keeps the sending sense carried by ⁨στέλλω⁩, while ⁨συν-⁩ gives ⁨συστέλλω⁩ its sense of drawing together.

THE PATTERN

The living make death tangible through the body’s passage into wrapping and burial.

And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 23:19 · KJVThe body is placed in a grave, making death concrete through the living act of burial.

And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

Matthew 27:59 · KJVThe body is wrapped by another person, as the physical work of death is carried out.

Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

Acts 5:10 · KJVThe young men carry the body out and bury it, making the same pattern visible through action.

THE THREAD

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

John 11:25 · KJV

Jesus names resurrection with ⁨ἀνάστασις⁩ (anastasis, rising), from the same word family as ⁨ἀνίστημι⁩ (anistēmi, arise) in Acts. That shared root holds the burial scene and the promise of life in one frame, while leaving the young men’s ordinary rising distinct from resurrection.

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