What Does Acts 8:10 Mean in the King James?
To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.
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
A crowd can lend a man God’s name through its attention without proving that the power comes from him.
THE MEANING
When power draws every eye, a claim about its source can spread from the least to the greatest until a person and God’s power seem inseparable. The verse shows how shared attention can make a claim feel certain without revealing where the power truly comes from.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that widespread admiration proves someone’s power is divine; a crowd can give God’s name to what it has not discerned.
THE ROOT
δύναμις
dýnamis
GROWS FROM
δύναμαι
dýnamai
Be able; have capacity to act.
The root carries the sense of ability or capacity, while the crowd’s words turn that power into a name for Simon. Their phrasing fuses a human figure with the power they attribute to God.
ALSO GROWS
dýnamai: Be able; have power.
δύναμαι
It shows the underlying idea of power as the capacity to act.
dynatós: Able, capable, powerful.
δυνατός
This related word describes someone or something as possessing ability, echoing the crowd’s identification of Simon with power.
προσεῖχον
proseichon
GROWS FROM
ἔχω (echō) with πρός (pros)
Hold toward; direct attention toward.
“gave heed” in this verse is proseichon. The verb carries the image of holding oneself toward someone, and its imperfect form presents the crowd’s attention as ongoing. “From the least to the greatest” makes that attention broad in reach: the claim is held up by a whole crowd’s regard.
ALSO GROWS
echō: Have, hold.
ἔχω
This base verb brings a sense of holding into the act of paying attention.
prosechō: Attend to, pay attention to.
προσέχω
This is the compound behind the verse’s verb: the crowd keeps its attention directed toward Simon.
THE PATTERN
A supernatural sign or widespread claim does not by itself establish that its source is God.
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.THE THREAD
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.Both verses use δύναμις (dýnamis, power); Acts 1:8 presents this power as received with the Set-Apart Breath and expressed in witness. That image separates the source of power from the human figure the crowd identifies with it.
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