What Does Acts 7:26 Mean in the King James?
And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another?
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
Peace begins with a double truth: you are bound to one another, and you are harming one another.
THE MEANING
This verse meets you where conflict is plain: one person is wronging another. It names their relationship without using kinship to excuse the harm, while someone works to reconcile them into peace and wholeness. Reconciliation is a changed relation that faces the harm directly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse dissolves is that reconciliation means pretending no harm is being done: the speaker names them as brothers and still asks why they wrong one another.
THE ROOT
συνήλλασσεν
synēllassen
GROWS FROM
ἀλλάσσω
allassō
The base means change or alter; in the verse’s compound, the sense is to reconcile people into a changed relation together.
The verb describes someone actively working to reconcile them; it does not say the attempt succeeds. English can make “set them at one again” sound like a settled outcome, while the Greek keeps the work of changing the relation in view.
ALSO GROWS
diallassō: reconcile, restore a relationship
διαλλάσσω
Matthew 5:24 uses this related form for being reconciled to a brother, echoing the sibling relationship named here.
katallassō: reconcile, restore to relationship
καταλλάσσω
In 2 Corinthians 5:18, this related form names reconciliation as a work entrusted to people.
εἰρήνην
eirēnēn
GROWS FROM
εἰρήνη
eirēnē
Peace, wholeness.
“at one again” in this verse is eirēnēn. The Greek phrase εἰς εἰρήνην (eis eirēnēn, into peace and wholeness) gives reconciliation a direction. Wholeness lies ahead as the aim, while the wrong between them remains openly named.
ALSO GROWS
eirēneuō: be at peace, live peaceably
εἰρηνεύω
This related verb shows peace as a lived relation, the direction the speaker is seeking for them.
eirēnikos: peaceable
εἰρηνικός
This related word describes a quality marked by peace, extending the same root beyond a moment of reconciliation.
THE PATTERN
Reconciliation faces harm directly while moving fractured relationships toward peace.
And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;THE THREAD
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.Acts’ συνήλλασσεν (synēllassen, was reconciling) and Matthew’s διαλλάγηθι (diallagēthi, be reconciled) share the root ἀλλάσσω (allassō, change or alter). Here, the brotherhood named amid harm becomes the relationship requiring reconciliation before the gift is offered.
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