What Does Acts 9:32 Mean in the King James?

And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda.

Acts 9:32 · KJV

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 people called set apart are shown dwelling in a named town: holiness is present in community life.

THE MEANING

Peter’s movement across the region reaches the people set apart who live in Lydda. Their identity and ordinary dwelling belong together: they are a community rooted in a real place. Set-apartness is present in the life they share there.

THE ROOT

ἅγιοι

hagioi

GROWS FROM

ἁγ-

hag-

set apart; sacred

The Greek word behind “saints” is the plural form of the word rendered “holy”: it names a people as set apart. Here, that identity belongs to people living in Lydda, so holiness appears within a local community.

ALSO GROWS

hagiazō: to set apart; consecrate

ἁγιάζω

The same word family describes the act of setting apart, showing the shared root beneath the people and the action.

hagiasmos: setting apart; consecration

ἁγιασμός

This branch names the state or process of being set apart, the quality the word “saints” gives to the people in Lydda.

κατοικοῦντας

katoikountas

GROWS FROM

οἰκ-

oik-

house; dwelling

The verb translated “dwelt” carries the idea of house and habitation: these people are at home in a specific place. The sentence places those set apart in Lydda as a community rooted in ordinary residence.

ALSO GROWS

oikos: house; household

οἶκος

The house-root beneath “dwelt” makes the community’s settled, shared life audible inside the verse.

oikeō: to dwell; inhabit

οἰκέω

This related verb shares the dwelling-root and makes the people’s presence in Lydda more than a passing visit.

THE PATTERN

Movement through a region becomes encounter when it reaches people where they live.

And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

2 Kings 4:8 · KJVElisha’s repeated passage through Shunem becomes an encounter with someone living there.

And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,

Luke 8:1 · KJVJesus moves through cities and villages, bringing his work into the places people inhabit.

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

Acts 8:4 · KJVThe scattered people carry the word through the places where they go.

THE THREAD

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 Peter 1:16 · KJV

Acts calls the people “saints”; this verse uses the same word for “holy.” The connection places the community’s set-apart name beside God’s own set-apart nature.

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