What Does Mark 1:28 Mean?
And straightway his report went out through all the region around Galilee.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.THE KEY
What the KJV calls his “fame” is literally the hearing about him: the encounter becomes a report that travels from ear to ear.
THE MEANING
An encounter with Jesus does not remain confined to the place where it begins; the hearing about him moves through the surrounding region. What one person hears becomes something others can hear too.
THE ROOT
ἀκοή
akoē
GROWS FROM
ἀκου-
akou-
Hear, listen; the noun can name the act of hearing or what is heard, a report or message.
English “fame” can sound like a settled reputation, but the Greek word ἀκοή (akoē, “hearing; report”) names what people hear as it passes between them. The verse pictures the news about Jesus moving outward through hearing and retelling.
ALSO GROWS
akouō: To hear or listen.
ἀκούω
The report begins as something people hear, tying its outward movement to the act of listening.
hypakoē: Hearing that responds; obedience.
ὑπακοή
The same word family can connect hearing with response, though this verse describes the report spreading rather than the hearers’ response.
THE PATTERN
A report turns a single encounter into a sound that travels beyond its place of origin.
Their measuring cord goes out through all the earth, and their words to the edge of the world; in them he set a tent for the sun.And this report went out into all that land.For from you the word of the Lord has echoed out, not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your full weight leaning toward God has gone out, so that we have no need to speak anything.THE THREAD
So then trust comes out of hearing, and hearing comes through the word of God.Romans uses the same Greek noun ἀκοή (akoē, “hearing”) found behind “fame” here. Mark shows the hearing about Jesus spreading; Romans reveals hearing as the way the word reaches another person.
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