Acts 1:20 (KJV)

What does Acts 1:20 mean?

Acts 1:20 gives Peter’s reason, drawn from the book of Psalms, for filling the place Judas has left among Jesus’ twelve apostles. Peter brings together two passages: one describes an abandoned dwelling, and the other calls for someone else to take a position of responsibility.

Peter is speaking to a gathering of believers after Judas’s death. The empty dwelling pictures a place left without an occupant. Peter then turns from that image to the need for another person to take Judas’s place.

The Greek behind Acts 1:20

• “habitation” — ἔπαυλις (epaulis): The word means a dwelling place or residence. It gives a concrete image of a home standing empty.
• “bishoprick” — ἐπισκοπή (episkopē): The word carries the sense of a position of oversight or responsibility. In the KJV, “bishoprick” refers to the place another person is to take, not necessarily to the later church office a modern reader may associate with a bishop.

Why Acts 1:20 matters

• Peter uses two separate passages from Psalms. “Let his habitation be desolate” draws on Psalm 69:25, while “his bishoprick let another take” draws on Psalm 109:8.
• The second quotation points toward replacing Judas in a particular role, not merely adding another person to the gathering. Peter goes on to describe someone who had accompanied Jesus and the apostles and could be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1:21–22).
• The verse places the decision within Peter’s reading of the Psalms. His opening words, “For it is written,” show why he considers those passages relevant to the situation before the group.