What Does Acts 8:24 Mean in the King James?
Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
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
Simon’s plea grows from need: he asks that the warned consequence not reach him.
THE MEANING
What has been spoken to you can feel like an approaching consequence, and your first reach may be for someone else to plead on your behalf. That request can coexist with fear of what is coming; the verse leaves open whether the wrong itself is being faced.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Asking someone to pray for you does not by itself show that you have faced the wrong named; Simon asks for the consequence to stay away.
THE ROOT
δεήθητε
deēthēte
GROWS FROM
δέομαι
deomai
To need or be in want; hence to ask, plead, or entreat.
“Pray” in this verse is deēthēte. The request is not a detached formula: this verb carries need as well as pleading. Its word family keeps that pressure inside the act of asking, so Simon’s plea carries fear of what may reach him.
ALSO GROWS
deēsis: A plea, petition, or supplication.
δέησις
This noun names the entreaty that grows from need, making the urgency inside Simon’s request visible.
deomenos: One who needs, asks, or pleads.
δεόμενος
This form describes a person in need; it brings the condition behind the plea into view.
THE PATTERN
In distress, the need for help becomes a request for others to intercede before God.
Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat the LORD, that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the LORD.Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:THE THREAD
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.Luke uses the same verb, δέομαι (deomai), meaning “to need or entreat,” when Jesus says he has prayed for Peter. The shared root makes the difference between the pleas clear: Jesus asks that Peter’s trust not fail, while Simon asks that the warned consequences not reach him.
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