What Does Acts 7:24 Mean in the King James?
And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:
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 same justice-root names both the wrong and its redress, while that redress takes the form of a blow against the Egyptian.
THE MEANING
Oppression has a body here: someone is being wronged, and Moses defends him. The defense becomes a blow, holding protection and retaliatory force inside one act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that defending the oppressed is always a clean, nonviolent act: here, defense turns into a strike against the oppressor.
THE ROOT
ἐκδίκησιν
ekdikēsin
GROWS FROM
δικ
dik
The Greek stem δικ- (dik-) underlies δίκη (dikē), meaning right or justice.
“avenged” in this verse is ekdikēsin. The verse’s ἀδικούμενον (adikoumenon, being wronged) and ἐκδίκησιν (ekdikēsin, vengeance or justice) carry the same δικ stem. The turn from wrong to redress is already inside the word-family, while the blow against the Egyptian makes that redress physical and violent.
ALSO GROWS
adikeō: To do wrong; to act unjustly.
ἀδικέω
This branch names the wrong suffered by the person Moses sees, from the same stem that appears in the response.
dikē: Right; justice.
δίκη
This is the justice-root inside the verse’s word for vengeance, linking redress to the very right that has been violated.
THE PATTERN
When suffering becomes visible, the witness is drawn into a concrete response.
If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain;But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?THE THREAD
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.Acts uses ἐκδίκησιν (ekdikēsin, vengeance or justice), while Romans uses the same δικ stem in its words for avenging and vengeance. The shared root brings a live tension into view: the response to wrong is named, while Romans places vengeance in God’s hands.
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