What Does Galatians 1:13 Mean in the King James?
For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
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 same Greek pursuit verb that can mean pressing toward a goal names the violent pursuit of God’s assembly here, so its target reveals what the force is doing.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you see that religious belonging can live alongside actions that devastate a community gathered to God. Its language names both the direction of the pursuit and the damage it does, without softening the past conduct.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that belonging to a religious tradition alone guarantees that one’s actions serve God.
THE ROOT
ἐδίωκον
ediōkon
GROWS FROM
διωκ
diōk
Pursue, chase.
“persecuted” in this verse is ediōkon. The verb here carries the basic idea of pursuit; English “persecute” brings its violence into focus, while the same Greek verb can describe pressing toward a goal. The force of pursuit remains, but its target reveals what it is doing.
ALSO GROWS
diōkō: Pursue, chase, or press after.
διώκω
This is the verb’s dictionary form and shows the pursuit held inside “persecuted.”
diōgmos: Persecution; the act or experience of being pursued because of opposition.
διωγμός
This related noun names the harm that pursuit becomes when directed against a person or community.
ἀναστροφήν
anastrophēn
GROWS FROM
στρεφ
stref
Turn, turn back.
The KJV’s “conversation” means manner of life here, and the Greek word carries the image of a way of turning or conducting oneself. The verse describes a lived path through its actions and their damage, not a spoken exchange.
ALSO GROWS
anastrephō: Turn back; conduct oneself or live.
ἀναστρέφω
This verb shows how the word-family can describe a person’s course of life.
epistrephō: Turn toward, return.
ἐπιστρέφω
This related turning word makes the movement within “conversation” more visible.
ἐκκλησία
ekklēsia
GROWS FROM
καλ
kal
Call, summon; the word-family beneath the sense of an assembly.
“church” in this verse is ekklēsia. The Greek word means an assembly, keeping a gathered people in view rather than a building. Its connection to the call-and-summon word-family makes the target of the pursuit concrete: a people assembled to God.
ALSO GROWS
kaleō: Call, summon.
καλέω
This verb gives the call-and-summon sense associated with the word-family.
klēsis: Calling, summons.
κλῆσις
This noun carries the idea of a summons into a gathered community.
THE PATTERN
A pursuit is known by the harm its direction produces.
Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.THE THREAD
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.The Greek verb translated “persecuted” here is the same pursuit verb rendered “follow after” there. The word keeps the force of pursuit intact while the direction changes.
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