Acts 11:20

Ἦσαν δέ τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρες Κύπριοι καὶ Κυρηναῖοι, οἵτινες εἰσελθόντες εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν, ἐλάλουν πρὸς τοὺς Ἑλληνιστάς, εὐαγγελιζόμενοι τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν.

RBT Greek Interlinear:

Strongs 1510; Ēsan; Ἦσαν; There were; V-IIA-3P

Strongs 1161; de; δέ; however; Conj

Strongs 5100; tines; τινες; certain; IPro-NMP

Strongs 1537; ex; ἐξ; from out; Prep

Strongs 846; autōn; αὐτῶν; of themselves; PPro-GM3P

Strongs 435; andres; ἄνδρες; Males; N-NMP

Strongs 2953; Kyprioi; Κύπριοι; of Cyprus; N-NMP

Strongs 2532; kai; καὶ; and; Conj

Strongs 2956; Kyrēnaioi; Κυρηναῖοι; of Cyrene; N-NMP

Strongs 3748; hoitines; οἵτινες; anyone who; RelPro-NMP

Strongs 2064; elthontes; ἐλθόντες; those who have come; V-APA-NMP

Strongs 1519; eis; εἰς; into; Prep

Strongs 490; Antiocheian; Ἀντιόχειαν; Antioch; N-AFS

Strongs 2980; elaloun; ἐλάλουν; I was chattering; V-IIA-3P

Strongs 2532; kai; καὶ; and; Conj

Strongs 4314; pros; πρὸς; toward; Prep

Strongs 3588; tous; τοὺς; the; Art-AMP

Strongs 1675; Hellēnistas; Ἑλληνιστάς; Hellenists; N-AMP

Strongs 2097; euangelizomenoi; εὐαγγελιζόμενοι; those who are gospelizing; V-PPM-NMP

Strongs 3588; ton; τὸν; the; Art-AMS

Strongs 2962; Kyrion; Κύριον; Master; N-AMS

Strongs 2424; Iēsoun; Ἰησοῦν; Salvation; N-AMS

RBT Translation:

Evangelizing the Lord

And there were certain men from out of themselves, Copper Ones ("Cypriots") and Men of the Huntress ("Cyrenians"), anyone who have come into Holding Opposite ("Antioch"), they also kept uttering toward the Outsiders ("Hellenists"), those who are gospelizing the Master Salvation.⁵²

Julia Smith Literal 1876 Translation:
And certain of them were Cyprian and Cyrenian men, who having come to Antioch, spake to the Greeks announcing good news, the Lord Jesus.

LITV Translation:
But some men from them, Cypriots and Cyrenians, who had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, announcing the gospel of the Lord Jesus.

Footnotes

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Act 11:20

εὐαγγελιζόμενοι τὸν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν This means "evangelizing the Master Jesu/Salvation" or "gospelizing the Master Salvation/Jesu"

It does not mean "preaching."

It serves the same function as other similar "-izing" words:

Verb	Meaning	Present Mid./Pass. Participle
βαπτίζω	submerge, baptize	βαπτιζόμενοι
καθαρίζω	cleanse, purify	καθαριζόμενοι
ἁγιάζω	make holy	ἁγιαζόμενοι
δουλεύω → δουλίζω	enslave	δουλιζόμενοι
ἐθνίζω	make into a nation / paganize	ἐθνιζόμενοι
Ἑλληνίζω	speak Greek / live as a Greek	Ἑλληνιζόμενοι
νομίζω	regard, suppose	νομιζόμενοι
σκανδαλίζω	cause to stumble	σκανδαλιζόμενοι
τυραννίζω	tyrannize	τυραννιζόμενοι
πλουτίζω	make rich	πλουτιζόμενοι

When a –ίζω verb (such as εὐαγγελίζω, βαπτίζω, καθαρίζω, σκανδαλίζω) is followed by an accusative of a person, the construction reflects one of two tightly defined valency patterns in Greek:

1. Direct Object of Affect (Patient Accusative)

Here the person in the accusative is the one directly acted upon—i.e., the recipient of the action that the verb effects.

Structural pattern

Verb (–ίζω) + Accusative Person

Semantic value

“to cause that person to undergo X”

Examples (structural type)

• βαπτίζω τινά → “to immerse someone”
• καθαρίζω τινά → “to cleanse someone”
• σκανδαλίζω τινά → “to cause someone to stumble”
• δουλίζω τινά → “to enslave someone”

Here the accusative marks the directly transformed participant. This is the canonical transitive use of –ίζω.

2. Double-Object Frame (Person + Content)

With communicative or declarative –ίζω verbs (especially εὐαγγελίζω), Greek often uses:

Accusative of person + Accusative of thing
or
Accusative of person + περί / ὅτι + clause

Example patterns

• εὐαγγελίζω τινά τι
  = “to announce something to someone”

• εὐαγγελίζω τινά περὶ τινός
  = “to proclaim to someone about something”

Here:

• The person-accusative = recipient

• The second object or clause = semantic content

So the person is not transformed, but informed.

What This Means for εὐαγγελιζόμενοι + Accusative Person

When you see:

εὐαγγελιζόμενοι τινά

the accusative person is not undergoing a physical change, but is:

• the target of proclamation

• the recipient of communicated content

• grammatically functioning as a personal goal without a preposition

This is a regular Greek extension of the “affect” accusative into the semantic domain of information transfer.

With εὐαγγελιζόμενοι, an accusative person is not the content of the proclamation but the recipient of it. In Greek valency terms, the person in the accusative functions as the affected addressee (recipient/patient of the speech act), while the content is expressed separately—either by a second accusative (εὐαγγελίζω τινά τι), a prepositional phrase (περί + gen.), or a ὅτι/ὡς clause.

All the previous translations, trying to avoid the truthful reading, add words such as περί + gen. and/or change the noun "Jesu/Salvation" into a genitive form (e.g. of Jesus) when it (he) is in fact an accusative direct object. In other words, pretty much every rendering ever of this line has been falsely crafted.