Acts 14

In Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went together into the Jewish synagogue, the place where Jews met to worship and study. They spoke there in such a way that a large number of both Jews and Greeks believed.

1And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.

NoteIconium was a city in the interior of Asia Minor, on the main road running east from Pisidian Antioch; it is modern Konya in Turkey. "Greeks" here does not mean visitors from Greece but non-Jews of the Greek-speaking world; some attended the synagogue as interested outsiders, which is why they are in the room to hear Paul at all.

2But the Jews who did not believe stirred up the non-Jewish people of the city and turned their thinking against the believers.

2But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.

3So Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord. The Lord backed up the message about his grace by letting them do miraculous signs and wonders.

3Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

Note"The word of his grace" is the KJV's phrase for the message Paul preached. "Grace" translates a Greek word meaning a favor freely given, something granted without being earned or owed. "Signs and wonders" is a fixed Old Testament pairing for acts that both astonish and point beyond themselves.

4But the people of the city split into two groups. Some sided with the Jews, and some sided with the apostles.

4But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.

Note"Apostles" translates a Greek word meaning someone sent out with a commission, like an envoy or delegate. Luke applies it here to Barnabas as well as Paul, using it in the broader sense of missionaries sent by a church rather than only of the original twelve.

5Then the non-Jewish people and the Jews, along with their leaders, made a move to mistreat Paul and Barnabas and to stone them.

5And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,

NoteStoning was the standard method of execution under Jewish law, carried out by a crowd throwing rocks at the condemned person, usually outside the town. Done by a mob without a trial, as threatened here, it was lynching rather than legal punishment.

6Paul and Barnabas found out about it and escaped to Lystra and Derbe, cities in the region of Lycaonia, and to the country around them.

6They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about:

NoteLycaonia was an inland district of Asia Minor, within the Roman province of Galatia, in what is now central Turkey. Lystra lay about eighteen miles southwest of Iconium and Derbe some sixty miles further on. Crossing into it meant leaving the jurisdiction of Iconium's officials.

7And there they kept preaching the good news.

7And there they preached the gospel.

Note"Preached the gospel" is one word in Greek, meaning to announce good news. In ordinary usage it covered the sort of announcement a herald made, such as news of a victory or of an emperor's accession.

8In Lystra a certain man was sitting who had no strength in his feet. He had been unable to walk since birth and had never walked at all.

8And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:

NoteThe KJV's "impotent in his feet" uses "impotent" in its older and broader sense of lacking strength or power, with no sexual meaning attached. The word describes a man whose feet could not bear him.

9This man listened as Paul spoke. Paul looked straight at him and saw that he had faith to be healed.

9The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

10Paul said in a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet." And the man jumped up and began to walk.

10Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

11When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted out in the local Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us looking like men!"

11And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

NoteLycaonian was the local native language, distinct from the Greek that Paul and Barnabas spoke and that educated people in the region used for public business. Luke mentions it to explain why the two missionaries did not grasp what the crowd was shouting until preparations for the sacrifice were already under way.

12They called Barnabas Jupiter, and they called Paul Mercury, because Paul was the one who did most of the talking.

12And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

NoteThe KJV gives the Roman names of the gods; the Greek text has Zeus and Hermes. Zeus was the chief of the gods, Hermes his messenger and spokesman, the god of eloquence, which is why the crowd assigns that role to the one doing the talking. A story told in this region held that Zeus and Hermes had once visited it disguised as travelers and been turned away by everyone except one old couple, who were rewarded while their neighbors were destroyed. That memory would make a crowd anxious not to fail the test twice.

13The priest of Jupiter, whose temple stood just outside the city, brought bulls and flower wreaths to the city gates. He and the crowds wanted to offer a sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas.

13Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.

NoteGarlands were woolen ribbons or flower wreaths draped over the sacrificial animals and worn by those taking part, standard equipment for a public sacrifice. Oxen were expensive victims, offered for an occasion of high importance. "Which was before their city" describes the temple of Zeus standing just outside the walls, a common location for a city's patron shrine; the sacrifice is being brought to the gates because that is where the gods are thought to have arrived.

14When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about this, they tore their own clothes and rushed into the crowd, shouting,

14Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,

NoteTearing one's own clothing was a Jewish gesture of grief and horror, used at a death and also on hearing words treated as an outrage against God. Here it is an unmistakable public signal of rejection, made visible to a crowd whose language the apostles could not speak.

15"Men, why are you doing this? We are only human beings with the same feelings and weaknesses you have. We are telling you good news, so that you will turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.

15And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

Note"Men of like passions with you" does not mean strong emotions in the modern sense. The Greek word means made of the same stuff, subject to the same nature and the same weaknesses. "Vanities" is the KJV's word for things that are empty or futile, a standard Jewish term for idols and the gods behind them.

16In times past, God allowed all the nations to go their own way.

16Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

Note"Suffered" in the KJV means allowed or permitted, its ordinary seventeenth century sense. It carries no idea of pain here.

17Even so, he did not leave himself without proof of who he is. He did good for you, sending rain from the sky and seasons with good harvests, and filling our hearts with food and gladness."

17Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

18Even with these words, Paul and Barnabas could barely stop the crowds from offering sacrifices to them.

18And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.

19Then some Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds over to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.

19And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

NoteThis Antioch is Pisidian Antioch, the inland city Paul and Barnabas had been driven out of earlier, roughly a hundred miles away, and not the Syrian Antioch they had sailed from. Opponents traveled that distance to follow them.

20But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.

20Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

21After they had preached the good news in that city and made many disciples, they went back again to Lystra, then to Iconium, and then to Antioch.

21And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,

NoteThe return route retraces their steps through the same three cities they had been expelled from, in reverse order. Antioch again means Pisidian Antioch.

22They strengthened the disciples and urged them to keep trusting, saying, "We must go through many hard times to enter the kingdom of God."

22Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Note"Tribulation" translates a Greek word whose root sense is pressure or crushing weight, used for hardship and persecution of any kind. The KJV's "confirming the souls" means strengthening or bracing them, not verifying anything.

23In each church they appointed elders. Then they prayed and went without food, and they placed these believers in the care of the Lord they had trusted.

23And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Note"Ordained" here translates a verb that means to appoint or designate; its root refers to stretching out the hand, either to vote or to install someone. "Elders" translates a word meaning older men, the title for the group of respected figures who governed a Jewish synagogue community; the young churches borrow the structure and the name. Fasting means deliberately going without food for a set time, a Jewish practice that regularly accompanied serious prayer.

24After they had traveled through the region of Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

24And after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

NotePisidia and Pamphylia were districts of southern Asia Minor; Pisidia is the mountainous inland country, Pamphylia the coastal plain below it. Perga and Attalia in the next verse are both in Pamphylia, Attalia being the port.

25They preached the message in Perga, and then went down to Attalia.

25And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia:

26From there they sailed to Antioch. That was the place where they had been handed over to God's grace for the work they had now finished.

26And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.

NoteThis is Antioch in Syria, the large city that had sent them out, not the Pisidian Antioch of the previous verses. The KJV's "recommended" does not mean spoken well of; it means handed over or entrusted, the same act described in verse 23 as commending the new churches to the Lord.

27When they arrived, they called the church together and reported everything God had done through them, and how he had opened the door of faith to people who were not Jews.

27And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

Note"Rehearsed" in the KJV means recounted or reported in full, with no sense of practicing. "Opened the door of faith" is a figure of speech for granting access, as a householder opens a door to admit someone.

28And they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

28And there they abode long time with the disciples.