Acts 13
HAMMActs 13:1
And there were at that time in Antioch some eminent persons or bishops of the churches of Syria of that age, (see note [c] 1 Cor. xii.,) and of them some having the gift of prophecy, (see note [e] ch. xv.,) as Barnabas—
6, (as those that are made like unto another, are, to express that similitude, called his sons, and sometines have his name communicated to them.)
Acts 13:2
And as they were upon a day of fast performing their office of prayer to God (see note [f] Luke i.) the Holy Spirit of God, by some affiliation or revelation, (see note [f] ch. viii.) commanded them to ordain or consecrate Barnabas and Saul to the apostleship, to which God had already designed them. ¹⁷ shouted, The voice of God, ὑκεφώνει, Θεοῦ φωνή. ¹ Now there were some in Antioch, belonging to the doctors, ἦσαν δέ τινες ἐν Ἀντιοχεῖᾳ κατὰ τὴν οἶσαν ἑκκλησίαν προφῆται καὶ διδάσκαλοι. ² foster-brother of Herod, σύντροφοι τοῦ Ἡρ.
Acts 13:3
And accordingly they observed a solemn day of fasting and prayer, and so by imposition of hands (see note [f] 1 Tim. v.) ordained them, and sent them away about the work designed them by God.
Acts 13:4
And having thus received their commission from the Holy Ghost, or by the appointment of God himself, (see ver. 2,) they went immediately to Seleucia.
Acts 13:7
[a] the deputy] That Sergius Paulus should here be called ἀνθύπαιτος, proconsul in Cyprus, ver. 4, hath some difficulty in it, it being resolved by Strabo, l. 14. p. 470, that after the Romans’ taking this island it became a prætorian province, Ῥωμαῖοι κατέσχον τὴν νῆσον, καὶ γέγονε στρατηγικὴ ἐπαρχία καθ’ αὐτήν. And again, p. 471, mentioning the subduing of it, and possessing it by Cato, Ἐξ ἐκείνου, saith he, ἐγένετο ἐπαρχία ἡ νῆσος, καθάπερ καὶ νῦν ἐστι, στρατηγικὴ, “From that time the island became, as now it is, a prætorian province;” which concludes it under a prætor, not a proconsul. And so Zonaras on the eighth Canon of Ephesus, Παρὰ τοῦ δοῦκὸς Ἀντιοχείας ἐστέλλετο ἐκεῖ στρατηγός. “From the duke of Antioch a commander was sent to Cyprus:” on which pretence it was that the bishop of Antioch did at the time of that council pretend right of ordaining the bishops of Cyprus. This difficulty Baronius endeavours to remove, A. C. 46, n. 11, by conceiving that the proconsul of Cilicia had the administration of this prætorian province also, and consequently that this Sergius Paulus was now this proconsul of Cilicia. This he collects from Sigonius De Antiq. Jure Provinc. l. 1. c. 14, who affirms it of P. Lentulus and some others, that being proconsuls of Cilicia, they administered Cyprus also, which, saith Baronius, non illi tantum sed et successoribus esse æque concessum, par est credere: “It is reasonable to believe, not of him only, but of his successors as well as of him.” But the words in Sigonius do sufficiently refute this conclusion; for he having indeed affirmed that this honour of holding Cyprus together with Cilicia was granted by the senate, not only to P. Lentulus, but also to Ap. Claudius and M. Cicero, as special honours designed to those three proconsuls, adds, Post Ciceronis autem proconsulatum, ut a Ciliciæ præside tres Asiaticæ diœceses, sic etiam Cypri administratio ablata est, ac proprius, ut ex lege debuit, prætor cum suo quæstore in cam missus est: “After Cicero’s proconsulship, as the three Asiatic dioceses were taken away from the president
Acts 13:8
But Barjesus, that Elymas or magician, (as Elymas signifies,) withstood them—
c having a great incitation of the Spirit of God upon him, looked earnestly on him, and said—
d O thou vile sorcerer, which, like the devil by whom thou workest, art an enemy of all goodness, wilt thou persist in sorcery in defiance of the faith of Christ, which comes armed so with much more power of miracles than those to which thou falsely pretendest!
[b] Elymas] The word עֵאלֹם, alem, or עֲלִים, alim, in Arabic, signifies knowing or skilful, and is applied to those that know things divine and human, from עֲלֵם, alam, scivit: and so μάγος, perhaps מָנוֹשׂ from בֵּשׁ, which in Syriac and Arabic signifies scrutari or explorare, “to search,” will signify the same also. From this concurrence of the words ἐλύμας and μάγος, in the same notion, it is clear that neither of them here was a proper name, (that having before been set down to be Barjesus, ver. 6.) but both, in several languages, the title of their wise men, skilled in the secret learning, whom we ordinarily call magicians; and μάγος being in so common use among the Grecians, though perhaps of an eastern origination too, is here set as an interpretation of the other.
Acts 13:9
[c] also is called Saul] Several accounts are given of Saul’s two names. St. Ambrose, Serm. 31, saith that he was at his baptism named Paul by Ananias. St. Austin, Tract. 72 in Psal. will have it an effect of his conversion, and so of his own imposing, and that his humility would not own that name of a proud tall king of Israel, but preferred the contrary of Paulus, a little one. Agreeable to which it is that he calls himself ἐλαχιστότερος πάντων ἁγίων, (a word made by himself on purpose,) less than the least of saints. St. Jerome, on the Epistle to Philemon, will have it a token of this his first victory over the heathenism of Sergius Paulus here, (in this chapter, where he is first called by this name,) whose name he was therefore to bear by way of triumph, as Scipio of Africanus, and the like. But Origen, in Præf. on the Epistle to the Romans, saith, that he being a Jew, born in the city of Rome, had at his circumcision two names, Saul a Jewish, and Paulus a Roman name. And this is most agreeable to the form of speech here, Σαῦλος δὲ (ὁ καὶ Παῦλος,) But Saul, who is also Paul, noting him to have had two names at once, not to have changed one for the other.
Acts 13:10
[d] mischief] Ῥᾳδιουργία signifies forgery, cheating, falseness, deceit. So in Plutarch, making a false will is ῥᾳδιούργημα. So Acts xviii. 14. If it were ἀδίκημα ἡ ῥᾳδιούργημα πονηρόν, any injury, (any piece of injustice,) or any roguy forgery or cheat. So Phavorinus, ῥᾳδιουργεῖν,
Acts 13:11
It is most just that thou, that holdest out perversely against the light of the gospel, shouldst lose thy sight, which therefore, by the immediate power of God, shall be taken from thee for some time. And immediately he was struck blind, and was not able to go without leading.
Acts 13:12
And this act of miraculous blindness upon the sorcerer convinced the proconsul, and converted him to the faith.
Acts 13:13
And Paul, and all that were in his company, except John, who returned to Jerusalem, went by sea from Paphos to Perga, a place famous for the temple of Diana.
Acts 13:15
And after the reading of the lessons, one out of the law, the other out of the prophets, it being the custom for the Jewish doctors to expound and apply some part of scripture to the instruction of the people, the chief persons of the assembly which were present sent to Paul and his associates, to know whether they were prepared to do so.
[e] rulers of the synagogue] The synagogues in the regions of Judæa, not always signifying their consistories or judicatures, but also their places for religious duties, bearing the law and prophets read, was answerable to the catus ecclesiastici, “the religious assemblies” (saith Bertram de Rep. Jud. p. 154.) of the Levites and prophets instituted at first by Joshua and Samuel by prescript of law. The archisynagogi therefore are parallel to and supply the place of those Levites and prophets, those that officiated there, of which consequently there were more than one in the same synagogue; and so ch. xi 8. and 17. Crispus and Sosthenes are archisynagogi of the synagogue at Corinth. And the ancient Greek and Latin MS. ch. xiv. 2, instead of οἱ δὲ ἀπειθοῦντες Ἰουδαῖοι, reads οἱ δὲ ἀρχισυνάγωγοι τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες τῆς συναγωγῆς, making express difference between the rulers or chief of the synagogue, that officiated there, and the rulers of the consistory or judicature.
Acts 13:16
And Paul stood up, and having called for silence, (see ch. xii. 17,) bespake all, both Jews and proselytes, to give audience.
Acts 13:17
The God of Israel chose Abraham &c. and promised to bless and multiply his seed, and accordingly performed it, increasing them to a very great number, even at the time when they were sojourners and slaves (and their children appointed to be killed as soon as
S much stricken, ἱκκλησσόμενος.
Acts 13:18
And for forty years, although they rebelled and murmured against him, (and accordingly he sent many punishments upon them, and permitted none of the murmurers to enter Canaan,) yet dealt he with them
[f] suffered he their manners] That ἑτροφοφόρησεν, carried as a nurse, is the right reading, there is little doubt, this being the very word twice used by the Septuagint, Deut. i. 31, ἑτροφοφόρησέ σε ὁ Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, ὡς εἴτις τροφοφορήσαι ἄνθρωπος τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ. So the Roman and Basil editions have it, for that which is in the Hebrew, hath borne thee, as a parent or nurse doth a child, not only bearing in arms, but feeding and sustaining, (as sure God did those Israelites, when he sent them quails and manna, ἄρτον ἕτοιμον ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ, bread ready dread, and sent down from heaven for them,) and further undertaking all the trouble of his education; and therefore the Syriac interpreter uses here a word which signifies feeding or nourishing. And so Hesychius, ἑτροφοφόρησεν, ἔτρεψεν, (it should be ἔθρεψεν,) “bearing as a nurse,” that is, “feeding.” And so Phavorinus also. Thus in Macarius, speaking of a mother and her little child, ἀναλαμβάνει, saith he, καὶ περιθάλπει, καὶ τροφοφορεῖ ἐν πολλῇ στοργῇ, “she takes up, strokes, and nurses with great affection.” And 2 Macc. vii. 27, when the mother entreats the son to pity her, τροφοφορήσασαν, that bare, and did for him as a nurse doth, (answerable to the Hebrew אֵשֶׁב, οἴρω, βαστάζω, to take up or carry.) This did God miraculously even to those murmurers: but suffering his vengeances to fall upon them, and sweeping them all away that came out of Egypt, but Caleb and Joshua, he cannot so fitly be said to have borne their manners, or to have borne with them.
Acts 13:21
And upon this occasion, Herod, having appointed a day to hear and consider that business, being arrayed— ᶜ cried out by way of acclamation, He speaks more like a god than a man.
Acts 13:23
God sent a disease upon him (see this whole story in Josephus, and out of him in Eusebius Eccl. Hist. lib. 2. cap. 10.) because he prided himself in this acclamation of the people, and disclaimed not that blasphemous flattery of theirs: and he was eaten—
And as he promised, so hath he performed; from his posterity is Jesus come, appointed by God to be the Lawgiver and Judge of the world, to rule and govern all, to fight their battles against sin and Satan. ’ before his beginning to preach, or entrance on his prophetic office, the baptism—
Acts 13:24
And the gospel thrived and had many proselytes, many were daily converted to it. ᵇ their business in carrying provision for the relief of the poor Christians, (ch. xi. 19,) and took— ### CHAP. XIII.
Acts 13:25
And as John preached and baptized he renounced being the Messias, telling them that he was but his forerunner, and that he should shortly come * carried them as a nurse. † the face of his entrance, προσόντων τὴς εἰσόδου αὐτοῦ.
Acts 13:26
And now, brethren, both Jews and proselytes, this gospel, which Christ thus brought into the world, is sent to be proclaimed and made known to you.
Acts 13:27
For the sanhedrim and people of Jerusalem, that then was, did not understand him to be the Messias, which they might have done if they had considered the predictions of the prophets contained in those lessons and portions of scripture (especially prophetic) which every sabbath day are read in their synagogues, but adjudged him to death; and in so doing fulfilled those very prophecies which they understood not, yet pretended to understand and value so much; for they said it should be so.
[g] fulfilled] That there is in this verse a trajection, or σύγχυσις, there can be no question: the κρίναντες in the latter part belongs to the τοῦτον in the former, and the ἐπλήρωσαν to the τὰς φωνὰς, they adjudged or sentenced him, and they fulfilled or accomplished them. And such trajections are ordinary among writers, and go for elegancies, where they are used. The only difficulty will be to what sense the καὶ before τὰς shall be rendered. For either that may couple the ἀγνοή-
Acts 13:28
And though he were perfectly innocent, no capital accusation produced against him, yet by their importunity they forced Pilate to condemn him to be crucified.
Acts 13:29
And when by thus doing they had not more acted their own malice than fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messias, (according to what he himself said, It is finished, and then gave up the ghost,) then the officers took him down from the cross and put him into a tomb, sealed it up, and watched it, secured him by all ways imaginable.
Acts 13:30
And yet, after all this, God raised him from the dead:
Acts 13:31
And for forty days he continued upon the carth, and was several times seen (and conversed with, and did eat and drink, and shewed the print in his hands and side) in the presence of his disciples and divers others, who from the beginning had attended on him as disciples, who now testify this truth unto all the Jews. 32, 33. And the subject of this gospel, which we thus proclaim unto you, is the promise made to Abraham, (that in his seed &c.); to Moses, (that God would raise up a prophet &c.) which promise God hath now fulfilled in raising Jesus from the dead. Of which also that in the second Psalm was a prophecy, when to David, after his great persecutions, it was said, that God had now begotten him, thereupon calling him his son; that is, set him upon his throne, and * not knowing him condemned him, and fulfilled the sayings
tous of the prophets, τοῦτον ἀγνοήσαντες, καὶ τὰς φωνὰς τῶν προφητῶν—κρίναντες, ἐπλήρωσαν.
¹⁰ preach unto you the promise, &c., εὐαγγελιζόμεθα τὴν ἐπαγγ. formed it, ὅτι ταύτην ὁ Θεὸς ἐκπεπλήρωκε.
Acts 13:33
[h] raised up] The word ἀναστήσας, raising up, signifies to raise up from the dead, and so doth ἐγείρειν too; but not so only, nor so primarily, nor necessarily so, but when either the addition of ἐκ νεκρῶν, from the dead, or some other phrase of that nature, or circumstance of the context requires that sense. For besides that notion, there is another very ordinary and proper to it, as when God is said to raise up a prophet, that is, to send him, and give him commission to perform the office of a prophet. This is an usual notion of the word. So Acts iii. 22. and vii. 37, Προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει, He shall raise you up a prophet: and so Acts ii. 30, speaking of God’s promise to David, From the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, ἀναστήσειν Χριστὸν, that he would raise up Christ, bring the Messias into the world. And the mention of the resurrection in the next verse will not be able to assign any other sense to that place, because that may come in from the force of the sitting on his throne, which is added to it, it being clear, that as that was promised of the Messias, so it was not performed till his resurrection. So when of Theudas, Acts v. 36, of Judas of Galilee, ver. 37, it is said, ἀνέστη, he rose up, a false prophet arising of himself, or raising himself, not raised by God, (according as among the Hebrews the word א״ב, for prophesying, doth in hithpael, the reciprocal conjugation, generally signify a false prophecy, such as one receives from himself, and not from God;) so Heb. vii. 11, What need is there, ἕτερον ἀνίστασθαι ἱερία, that there should arise, or be raised, another priest? and again, ver. 15. And thus some may conceive that it should signify in this place. But, 1, the context here, and, 2, the importance of the second psalm, incline it the other way. For here the resurrection of Christ, ver. 30, is the point insisted on; and though his crucifixion be first mentioned in order to that, ver. 27, yet there is no mention of his coming into the world, or either his eternal or temporal generation. And so in the following words, ver. 34, they again belong to God’s raising him from the dead. And for the parallel betwixt begetting and resurrection, it might be made clear in many particulars. As for the second psalm, that clearly belongs to the setting up David king after the death of Saul, and conquest over his enemies; and that is aptly expressed by God’s begetting him, and his being God’s Son: for as similitude denominates children, the children of God are they that are like him, and resemble him in any thing, and the children of Abraham are they that do the works of Abraham; and as the making man after God’s image signified his likeness unto God in power, having dominion, &c. Gen. i. 28, so being the sons of God, and having the title of gods, psalm lxxxii. 6, belongs to governors, and consequently signifies so in that second psalm, and is but another phrase to signify
Acts 13:34
To the same purpose also, that God should not only raise him from the dead, but also secure him never to die any more, (for Lazarus, and others that were once raised, died again,) are those two other known prophecies; one, Isaiah lv. 3, I will give you the sure mercies &c., the expression of an everlasting covenant spoken literally to the people of Israel, that God would perpetuate to them the mercy promised to David, that of giving one of his seed to sit on his throne, (which had been for some time interrupted, but should now be perpetuated to them upon their obedience,) but here accommodated to Christ, that though he were crucified yet he should rise again, and after that never die any more; that is, that Christ, under the title of the Son of David, should be given to the Jews not only in a mortal condition, as David was, but in a firm immutable state: which could not be true of him, if he had not been raised from the dead and assumed to heaven, never to die any more.
[i] sure mercies] The Hebrew in Isaiah lv. 3, from whence this is taken, hath חסרי דוד הנאמנים, where the word חסרי in the plural, noting beneficia, or beneficentiam, “mercies,” or “mercifulness,” is by the Greek rendered δαι, (from the sense of the singular חסר, which signifies both beneficus and pius, “charitable” and “godly,”) as if it were only pia, “godly,” from the singular pius, whereas the adjective plural is taken substantively (as many neutrals in Latin are) for acts of kindness, mercies, &c.; and so הנאמנים, adjectively joined with it, signifies the faithful, durable, lasting mercies of David, that is, of Christ the Son of David; and so this place out of the prophet is brought as a proof of Christ’s resurrection. For as the mercies promised the Jews in having David for their king, had with the end of his life determined also, unless his son Solomon, and after him others, had sat upon the throne; and as, when they were carried into captivity, the perpetuating these benefits of David to them, that is, being governed by their own kings, signifies their return from their captivity: so Christ, being called David, or meant in a second mystical sense when David is named, and being (crucified and so) dead, as David was, unless he had withal risen again, that covenant, those mercies promised by and in him to the world, could not have been πιστὰ, firm, sure, faithful, ratified for duration or continuance, but had ended with his life; whereas now by his resurrection and ascension to heaven they still continue, and are made good unto us. Thus saith Athanasius of Christ’s sacrifice, Τετελείωκε τὸ πᾶν, καὶ πιστὴ γέγονε μένουσα διὰ παντός, “It perfected all, and became faithful.” Whercin? why, in that it remaineth for ever. And again saith he, ‘Η κατὰ νόμον ἱερατεία χρόνω καὶ θανάτω παρήμειβε τοὺς προτέρους, ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἀπαράβατον καὶ ἀδιάδεκτον ἔχων τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην, πιστὸς γέγονεν ἀρχιερεὺς, παραμείνων ἀεὶ, “The legal priesthood by time and death passeth from one to another; but Christ having an high priesthood which passeth not from him to any successor, did therein become a faithful high priest, (Heb. ii. 17.) enduring or continuing for ever:” where the word πιστός in that Epistle to the Hebrews is interpreted by that father to signify durable, continuing for ever.
Acts 13:35
And to that most clearly belongs that other place, Psalm xvi. 11.
Acts 13:36
For if those words should be applied to David personally, they could have no truth in them; for he having lived his term or space of natural life, and therein ruled the people over whom God was pleased to set him, died a natural death, and never rose again, but his body was putrefied in the earth.
Acts 13:37
But he in whom that prophecy is completely fulfilled, that is, Christ, being sent by God into the world, and crucified, and by the power of God raised from the dead the third day, (before the time came wherein bodies naturally putrefy, viz., seventy-two hours after death, wherein the revolution of humours is accomplished,) never came to die again or putrefy at all.
Acts 13:38
This, therefore, is the message we bring, the gospel we preach unto you, that this Christ is the in his own generation having served the counsel of God, Δαβιδ μιν γὰρ ἰδίφ γενεῖν ὑπηρετῆσαι τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ βουλῇ.
Acts 13:39
And whosoever receives and obeys him shall certainly be freed and purged from the wrath of God, and the punishments attending sin in another world, from which the law of Moses could not, by all its ceremonies, washings and sacrifices, purge or cleanse any. 40, 41. You are therefore nearly concerned to take heed, and beware that by your obstinate resisting and rejecting this way of salvation now preached, and confirmed from heaven by God’s raising Jesus from the dead when ye had opposed and crucified him, you do not bring a remarkable astonishing destruction upon yourselves, in the same manner (and a heavier degree) as it fell upon the Jews from the Chaldeans, Hab. i. 5, as a just punishment of their despising the rich mercies of God afforded them, and going on impenitently in their sins against all the messages sent them by the prophets, and by so doing cause the gospel to be removed to the Gentiles, ver. 46: a thing which will come to pass suddenly in both parts, (the gospel being taken from you and preached to the Gentiles, and the Romans coming in and destroying you,) though so incredible to you, that you will not believe it when the news of it shall come unto you by them that see it done: (see note [b] Matt. xxviii.)
Acts 13:41
[k] Behold, ye despisers] The words ἴδετε οἱ καταφρονηταί, Behold, ye despisers, which from the Septuagint’s reading the apostle here embraceth, are very different from what not only the vulgar Latin, and our English, but also the Chaldee and the Interlinearly retain in the place of Habakkuk, ch. i. 5, from whence it is clearly cited, the Hebrew בגוים being by them read as if it were ב and גוים, in gentibus, among the heathen, which the Chaldee read בעממיא, gentes. Hereupon learned men have made conjectures, that the Greek interpreters had
Acts 13:42
And as they departed from the Jews, the proselytes, or pious persons of heathen birth, desired to hear more of this subject the next sabbath. ¹ who preached to them, and by way of exhortation confirmed them in the doctrine of the gospel: (see note [b] Heb. xiii.) k the gospel preached by them.
Acts 13:44
[l] next sabbath] Instead of ἐρχομίνῳ σαββάτῳ, the coming or approaching sabbath, the King’s MS. and some others read ἐχομίνῳ, the next or adjoining sabbath, as πόλεις ἐχόμεναι have been shewed to signify the adjoining cities, note [b] on Mark i.
Acts 13:45
And the chief men of the Jews seeing how the multitude thronged to hear it were horribly enraged, and contradicted Paul, and that with contumelics and reproaches cast on him.
¹³ confounded. ¹⁴ will not believe, if any man, οὐ μὴ πιστεύσατε, ἐὰν τις. ¹⁵ As they
went out of the synagogue of the Jews, Ἐξιόντων ἐκ τῆς συναγωγῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων. ¹⁶ wor-
shipping: see note [i]. ¹⁷ rage, ζῆλου. HAMMOND, VOL. I. M M
Acts 13:46
But this no way discouraged Paul and Barnabas, but they put off all fear, and said courageously, (see note [a] John vii.,) that now they had performed their charge from Christ, of preaching the gospel first to the Jews, before they applied themselves to the Gentile world. But seeing ye Jews, said they, behave yourselves so obstinately and perversely, that you become utterly unworthy and uncapable of receiving benefit by the gospel, we are now by appointment to leave you and preach to the Gentiles; and so we will.
Acts 13:47
For this was the direction of God, that Christ being first preached to the Jews, and being rejected by them, should be preached to all other people of the world: and this is the sum of that old prophecy, Isaiah xlix. 6.
Acts 13:48
And when the Gentiles heard this good news, that this pardon of sins and salvation by Christ was allowed them, they rejoiced, and blessed the name of God for this glorious mercy of his revealed in the gospel; and all they of the Gentiles that had any care or pursuit of the life to come, the Gentile proselytes, or that were fitly disposed and qualified for the gospel to take root in, received the doctrine of Christ thus preached to them.
[m] ordained to eternal life] That this phrase τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον is here a notation of the proselytes among the Jews, which were allowed by them to have partem in seculo futuro, “a portion in the age to come,” (whether that signify heaven, or the kingdom of the Messias,) without submitting to their whole law, but only to the seven precepts of the sons of Noah, hath been not unhappily conjectured by M. Mede: and the context is somewhat favourable to it. The company consisted of Jews and proselytes, ver. 43; many of those proselytes (as well as Jews) followed Paul and Barnabas after the dissolving the assembly; and their doing so, and the form of the apostles’ exhortation to them, ἐπιμένειν, to abide or persevere, signifies that they were already believers. Then, ver. 45, the Jews contradicted, and spake against this doctrine, and therefore, say Paul and Barnabas, seeing ye judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, that is, seeing you behave yourselves as those that look not after, care not for your eternal weal, behold, we turn to the Gentiles, ver. 46; which when the Gentiles heard, that is, the people of other nations that were there among the
Acts 13:49
And the gospel was preached and embraced over the whole country.
Acts 13:50
Only the Jews exasperated some of the female proselytes, those of them that were of honourable quality, and the governors of the city, (see note [c] John i.) and raised—
Acts 13:51
But they, using that fatal ceremony appointed by Christ in this case, thereby foretelling and aboding the destruction which should overtake them for so doing, left them, and went from thence to Iconium.
Acts 13:52
And all the Christians were filled with spiritual joy at what they saw thus performed, and went on zealously in their course.
¹⁸ railing, Βλασφημ. ¹⁹ believed, as many as were disposed for eternal life. ²⁰ worshipping women, those of good quality, σοβομένης γυναίκας τὰς εὐαχόμονας: for the King’s MS. leaves out καί.