What Does Acts 9:24 Mean in the King James?
But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.
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 secret is broken before the danger is: Saul knows the plan while the gates remain watched.
THE MEANING
A hostile plan can come into the open while its threat remains active. Saul knows what is intended, yet the gates are still watched day and night; exposure has not made the danger vanish.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Knowing the plan does not make the danger disappear; Saul knows it, and the gates remain watched.
THE ROOT
ἐγνώσθη
egnōsthē
GROWS FROM
γνο-/γνω- (gno-/gnō-)
know, recognize, perceive
“was known” in this verse is egnōsthē. The Greek says the plot became known: its secrecy crosses into Saul’s awareness. The same word family can name knowing and making known, so the hidden plan is no longer hidden from its target.
ALSO GROWS
ginōskō: know, recognize
γινώσκω
This verb family carries the sense of the plot becoming known to Saul.
gnōrizō: make known, disclose
γνωρίζω
It names the other side of knowing: what was concealed can be disclosed to someone.
παρετήρουν
paretēroun
GROWS FROM
τηρ
tēr-
keep, guard, watch
The verb describes sustained, attentive watching, matching the gates being watched day and night. Its root also means to keep or guard, so watching becomes a form of custody around the exits.
ALSO GROWS
tēreō: keep, guard, observe
τηρέω
This is the root verb behind the watching at the gates.
tērēsis: guarding, custody
τήρησις
This branch makes visible how observation can become a means of holding or controlling.
ἐπιβουλή
epiboulē
GROWS FROM
βουλ
boul-
counsel, intention, plan
“laying await” in this verse is epiboulē. The threat begins as counsel: before the gates are watched, a plan has formed against Saul. The root can describe counsel or intention generally; here its direction makes it a hostile plot.
ALSO GROWS
boulē: counsel, plan, purpose
βουλή
The plot is presented as a formed intention, not a sudden act.
bouleuō: deliberate, plan
βουλεύω
This branch points to the planning that lies behind the watch at the gates.
THE PATTERN
A concealed threat can be exposed while its danger remains real.
For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.THE THREAD
Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.Both verses use the same Greek knowing-word family: Acts says the plot becomes known to Saul, while Matthew says what is hidden will be known. Matthew opens the moment outward, while Acts keeps the immediate danger in view: the gates remain guarded.
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