☰ Acts 13
13
Missionary journey I—Barnabas and Saul→Paul
1 Now in the congregation that was in Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (the one called Niger), Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. 2 As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them!” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them off.
1st stop—Cyprus
4 So, having been sent out by the Holy Spirit,* they went down to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus.† 5 And upon arriving in Salamis, they started proclaiming the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews (also they had John as assistant). 6 Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew named Bar-Jesus, 7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, really wanting to hear the Word of God. 8 But the sorcerer Elymas (for so his name is translated) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
9 Then Saul, also called Paul,‡ filled with Holy Spirit and looking intently at him, 10 said: “O full of all deceit and all trickery, son of a devil, enemy of all righteousness!§ Will you not stop perverting the straight ways of the Lord? 11 Well now, the Lord's hand is against you and you will be blind, not seeing the sun until next season!” Immediately mist and darkness engulfed him, and he started going around looking for someone to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw* what had happened, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
On to Pisidian Antioch
13 Then Paul and his party set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphilia (here John left them and returned to Jerusalem).† 14 Going on from Perga they arrived in Antioch of Pisidia; and entering the synagogue on the Sabbath day, they sat down. 15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent to them, saying, “Men, brothers, if you have a word of encouragement‡ for the people, do speak.”
Paul expounds the Gospel
16 So standing up and motioning with his hand, Paul said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17 The God of this people chose our fathers, and prospered the people during their sojourn in the land of Egypt, and brought them out of it with an uplifted arm. 18 For a period of about forty years He put up with them in the wilderness. 19 And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them possession of their land. 20 After these things, He gave judges for about four hundred and fifty§ years, until Samuel the prophet.* 21 And then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, a son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.† 22 And removing him He raised up for them David as king, about whom He gave witness and said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23 God, from this man's seed, according to promise, has brought‡ Salvation§ to Israel, 24 John having heralded beforehand, in advance of His coming, a baptism of repentance to Israel.* 25 Well, as John was fulfilling his course, he said: ‘Whom do you suppose me to be? No I am not—but indeed He comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’†
26 “Men, brothers, sons of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God: to you‡ the word of this salvation has been sent. 27 The Jerusalem dwellers and their rulers, understanding neither Him nor the voices of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him. 28 Though they found no cause for death, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. 29 When they had fulfilled all things that were written about Him, they took Him down from the cross§ and placed Him in a tomb. 30 But God raised Him from the dead; 31 and for many days He was seen by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are* His witnesses to the people.
32 “Yes we proclaim to you the good news: the promise that was made to the fathers, 33 God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, when He raised up Jesus;† as also it stands written in the second Psalm:
‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’‡
34 And that He raised Him from the dead,§ no longer to return to corruption,* He has spoken thus,
‘I will give you the holy things guaranteed to David.’†
35 Further, it is stated elsewhere,
‘You will not allow your Holy One to see decay.’‡
36 Now David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw decay; 37 but the One whom God raised up did not see decay.§ 38 Therefore, let it be known to you, men, brothers, that through this One forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses.* 40 So take care, lest there come upon you that which has been spoken in the prophets:
41 ‘Look you despisers, marvel and perish!
For I am working a work in your days
to which you will not give credence,
even if someone were to explain it in detail to you.’ ”†
The reaction
42 Now as the Jews were going out of the synagogue, the Gentiles implored repeatedly‡








that these words might be spoken to them the next Sabbath. 43 The synagogue service having been dismissed, many of the Jews and the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who started addressing them, urging them to continue in the grace of God. 44 Well the next Sabbath almost the whole city was gathered to hear the Word of God.§ 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with envy* and started speaking against the things said by Paul, contradicting and† blaspheming.
46 But Paul and Barnabas speaking boldly said: “It was necessary that God's Word should be spoken to you first.‡ But since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life,§ now we are being turned to the Gentiles. 47 Because that is just how the Lord has commanded us:
‘I have set you to be a light for ethnic nations,
that you should be for salvation
up to the last place on earth.’ ”*
48 Now upon hearing this, the Gentiles rejoiced and glorified the Word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal live believed.†
49 Well the Word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region.‡ 50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women§ and the chief men of the city, and raised up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their borders. 51 So they shook off the dust from their feet against them,* and went to Iconium. 52 But the disciples were filled with joy and with Holy Spirit.†
* 13:4 Note the emphasis on the Holy Spirit's agency. † 13:4 Recall that Barnabas was a native of Cyprus (Acts 4:36); he was doubtless eager to evangelize his own country, and would also know his way around. ‡ 13:9 It is at this point that Luke starts using ‘Paul’ instead of ‘Saul’. § 13:10 To be an ‘enemy of all righteousness’ one would have to be pretty bad! If ‘son of a devil’ is literal, Elymas was a humanoid, and would indeed be completely evil. * 13:12 Demonstrated supernatural power has a way of lending credence to the spoken word. † 13:13 When the party arrived in Cyprus, Barnabas was the leader; when it left, Paul had taken over. Barnabas was John's uncle, and quite possibly John did not like the change. ‡ 13:15 Or ‘exhortation’. § 13:20 The events recorded in the book of Judges, plus Eli's 40 years, equal 450. * 13:20 Along with his other functions, Samuel was a prophet. † 13:21 Saul reigned for forty years—a considerable period of time. ‡ 13:23 Instead of ‘brought’, some 25% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘raised up’, as in AV and NKJV. § 13:23 Instead of ‘Salvation’, some 15% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘a Savior, Jesus’, as in most versions. * 13:24 Instead of ‘to Israel’, some 20% of the Greek manuscripts read ‘to all the people of Israel’, as in most versions. † 13:25 At first people speculated that John the Baptizer might be the Messiah, but John was quick to deny it. ‡ 13:26 Instead of ‘to you’, perhaps 4% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘to us’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). How was that word sent? By Paul and Barnabas. § 13:29 Literally ‘tree’. Note that Paul emphasizes the fulfillment of prophecy. * 13:31 Paul says ‘are’—evidently many/most of the original Apostles were still alive. † 13:33 The “raised up” here presumably refers to the incarnation; the resurrection comes in verse 34. ‡ 13:33 See Psalm 2:7. § 13:34 The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is crucial; without it we have no Gospel. * 13:34 People like Lazarus who were returned to life, had to die again (and decompose); with Jesus it was different: His resurrection was definitive, and involved a glorified body. † 13:34 See Isaiah 55:3. ‡ 13:35 See Psalm 16:10. § 13:37 Only supernatural intervention could forestall decay after physical death. * 13:39 The Law as a means of justification was sadly deficient; the resurrected Jesus is marvelously efficient. † 13:41 See Habakkuk 1:5. According to 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11, to those who reject the love of the truth God Himself sends active delusion, so they will believe the lie. The ‘despisers’ are rendered incapable of understanding the explanation. ‡ 13:42 We have here an important set of variant readings, wherein the evidence is rather badly divided. I have decided to give the Greek, for those who can handle it, but will here give a literal rendering of the four variants, for those who can't. However, the discussion includes ‘the Gentiles’, as being part of the puzzle: 1) now as the Jews were going out of the synagogue; 2) now as they were going out; 3) now as they were going out of the synagogue of the Jews; 4) now as they were going out of the synagogue.1) εξιοντων δε εκ της συναγωγης των ιουδαιων f35 (60.2%) HF,RP,TR 2) εξιοντων δε αυτων (A,B,C,D (16.2%) NU 3) εξιοντων δε αυτων εκ της συναγωγης των ιουδαιων (20.8%) OC,CP 4) εξιοντων δε αυτων εκ της συναγωγης (2.3%) (two other readings) (0.4%)I believe this variant set must be considered along with the presence of τα εθνη after παρεκαλουν, but TuT does not include the second set. However, from UBS3 it appears that virtually the same roster of witnesses, including the three ancient versions (!), read variant 2) and omit “the Gentiles”. Where then is the Subject of the main verb παρεκαλουν? Presumably for those witnesses it would be the Jews and proselytes who had just heard Paul and wanted to hear it all over again the next Sabbath. So why are they (Jews and proselytes) mentioned overtly again in verse 43? And on what basis would the whole city show up the next week (verse 44)? But to go back to verse 42, why would the first hearers want to hear the same thing (τα ρηματα ταυτα) again anyway? The really interested ones stuck with Paul and Barnabas to learn more (verse 43), just as we would expect. The witnesses to variants 1) and 3) join in support of “the Gentiles”, giving us a strong majority (over 80%). So the Subject of παρεκαλουν is τα εθνη—they want a chance to hear the Gospel too, and the whole city turns out. It fits the context perfectly. So, variant 3) appears to be a conflation and the basic reading is variant 1). The witnesses to variant 3), because they have “the Gentiles”, are really on the side of variant 1), not 2), so presumably 1) may be viewed as having 80% attestation. For the witnesses to variant 1) the antecedent or referent of εξιοντων must be Paul's group, since the Gentiles would presumably address their request to the teacher.In variant 2) αυτων presumably serves as Subject of both the participle and the main verb, but in that event the main verb should take precedence and the pronoun should be nominative, not genitive. However one might explain the motivation for such a change—from 1) to 2) and deleting “the Gentiles”—variant 2) is evidently wrong, even though attested by the three ancient versions. Perhaps someone faced with variant 1) took “of the Jews” to be the referent of the participle instead of modifying “synagogue” (like NKJV), and thought it should be Subject of the main verb as well—then, of course, “the Gentiles” were in the way and were deleted. Then 1) might have been shortened to 2) for ‘clarity’.I take it that the original text had: εξιοντων δε εκ της συναγωγης των ιουδαιων παρεκαλουν τα εθνη etc. § 13:44 Instead of ‘God’ perhaps 4% of the Greek manuscripts have ‘the Lord’ (as in NIV, LB, TEV, etc.). * 13:45 Isn't human nature wonderful? † 13:45 Perhaps 20% of the Greek manuscripts omit “contradicting and” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). ‡ 13:46 Note the “it was necessary”. The apostles had a clear conviction that the Jews should be given the first chance. § 13:46 This sounds a little bit like sarcasm to me. * 13:47 See Isaiah 49:6. The prophecy refers to the Messiah, but Paul and Barnabas are representing Him. † 13:48 Here God's sovereignty and human responsibility are placed side by side—God appoints, but we have to believe. ‡ 13:49 This presumably means that a fair number of local congregations sprang up there. § 13:50 When the women get stirred up, watch out! * 13:51 They were following an instruction given by the Lord Himself (Matthew 10:14-15, Luke 9:5), and that He illustrated by example (Matthew 11:23-24), although He spoke the curse. I believe that history records that Pisidian Antioch entered into decline at that point. † 13:52 The apostles went on their way, but they left Life and joy behind them.
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