Acts 13

¹ Now there were in Antioch throughout the existing assembly¹ prophets and teachers: Barnabbas and Symeon called Niger, and Luke the Cyrenian, Mark and Herod the foster-brother² of the tetrarch, and Saul. ² Now while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said: Separate to me Barnabbas and Saul to the work for which I have called them. ³ Then having fasted and having prayed and having placed [their] hands on them, they departed.

⁴ Indeed therefore they, having been sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Selence, from there they sailed to Cyrene, ⁵ And having come to be in Salamini they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews —now they also had John [for an] assistant. ⁶ So having gone through the whole island until Paphos, they found a certain man [who was a] Jewish magician³ false prophet, Bariesis by name, ⁷ who was with the proconsul Sergio Paulo, [a] man [of] understanding. This [one] having summoned Barnabbas and Saul sought to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the magician⁴ resisted them—for thus do they translate his name—seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith. ⁹ But Saul, indeed Paul, having been filled of [the] Holy Spirit, having looked intently to him ¹⁰ said: O full of every deceit and every villainy, son of the devil, enemy of all justice, should you not cease to be turning away the straight ways of the Lord? ¹¹ And now behold [the] hand of the Lord [is] upon you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun until [the] opportune-time⁵ . So immediately there fell upon him mistiness and darkness, and going [about], he was seeking one to lead [him] by the hand. ¹² Then having seen the [thing] having come to pass, the proconsul believed, being astonished upon the teaching of the Lord. ¹³ So having gone up from Paphos, those with Paul went to Perga of Pamphilia. Now John having withdrawn from them returned to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Now they, having gone through from Perga, came to be in Antioch the Pisidian, and having gone into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath, they sat. ¹⁵ So after the reading of the law and the prophets, the chief of the synagogue sent to them saying: Men, brothers, if there is in you [a] word of encouragement to the people, be speaking. ¹⁶ So Paul having arisen and having motioned with his hand said: Men of Israel and [men] fearing God, hear [me]. ¹⁷ The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and he exalted the people in their sojourn in [the] land Egypt, and with [his] high arm he brought them out of it, ¹⁸ and [about] forty years time he put up with them in the wilderness, ¹⁹ and having conquered seven nations in [the] land Canaan, he gave as inheritance their land ²⁰ for [about] four hundred and fifty years. Now after these [things] he gave judges until Samuel [the] prophet. ²¹ And from there they requested⁶ [a] king, and God gave them Saul son [of] Kis, [a] man from the tribe [of] Benjamin, forty years [old]. ²² And having removed him he raised David to them for king, to whom he spoke having witnessed⁷:

I found David [son] of Jesse, [a] man after my heart, who will do all my will.

²³ God from the seed of this [one] according to [the] promise brought to Israel [a] savior—Jesus— ²⁴ John having proclaimed beforehand before the face of his coming [the] baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁴ So as John was fulfilling the course, he was saying: Who do you suppose me to be? I am not [he]; but behold there comes after me whom I am not worthy to loose the sandals of his feet. ²⁶ Men, brothers, sons of the generation of Abraham and those among you fearing God, to you the word of this salvation is sent out. ²⁷ For those dwelling in Jerusalem and those ruling them, not knowing this [one], and reading the voices of the prophets every Sabbath, having judged [this one] they fulfilled [them]. ²⁸ And having found no reason⁸ for death, they asked⁶ Pilate to have him done away with. ²⁹ Now as he completed everything written concerning him, having come down from the tree, he was placed in [a] tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead, ³¹ who was seen for many days to those having gone up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are [now] witnesses of him to the people. ³² And we good-news to you the promise to the fathers come to pass, ³³ that God has fulfilled this [thing] to us children, having raised Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm⁹:

You are my son.
Today have I begotten you.

³⁴ So because he raised him from [the] dead, no longer [about] to be returning to corruption, thus has he spoke that:

I will give to you the approved [things of] David
[which are] trustworthy [things].

³⁵ And therefore he also says in another¹⁰:

You will not give your approved [one] to see corruption.

³⁶ For David indeed, in his own generation having served the intention of God, he fell asleep, and was placed with his fathers and saw corruption. ³⁷ But whom God raised, he did not see corruption. ³⁸ Let¹¹ it therefore be known to you, men, brothers, that through this [one] is allowance¹² of sins proclaimed to you, and from all of which you were unable to be justified by [the] law of Moses. ³⁹ By this [one] everyone believing is justified. ⁴⁰ Be seeing therefore that you not come upon the [thing] spoken in the prophets¹³:

⁴¹ Look, O scoffers, and marvel and disappear,
For I work [a] work in your days,
[a] work which you would not believe
if anyone recounted [it] to you.

⁴² Now while [Paul and Barnabbas] were going out they were calling upon [them] to speak to them these words on the next Sabbath. ⁴³ Now when the synagogue let out, many of the Jews and the worshipping proselytes followed Paul and Barnabbas, who having called upon them, they were persuading [them] to be remaining in the grace of God. ⁴⁴ Now on the coming Sabbath, nearly all the city was gathered to hear the word of God. ⁴⁵ So the Jews, having seen the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and were contradicting those speaking under Paul, slandering. ⁴⁶ So Paul and Barnabbas, having spoken boldly, said: To you was it first necessary to speak the word of God. Since you reject it and do not judge yourselves worthy of eternal zoe-life¹⁴ , behold we turn to the nations¹⁵. ⁴⁷ For thus has the Lord commanded us¹⁶:

I have placed you for [a] light of the nations¹⁷,
For you to be for salvation to [the] end of the earth¹⁸ .

⁴⁸ So having heard, the nations¹⁹ were rejoicing and were glorifying the word of God, and they believed, as many as were designated to zoe-life¹⁴ eternal. ⁴⁹ So the word of the Lord was being brought through [the] whole region. ⁵⁰ So the Jews aroused the prominent worshipping women and the foremost [citizens] of the city, and raised up [a] persecution against Paul and Barnabbas, and threw them from their region. ⁵¹ But having shaken off the dust of their feet against them, they came to Iconia, ⁵² and the disciples were filled with joy and [the] Holy Spirit.

¹EKKLESIA (εκκλησια) from "called out". Appears 114 times in the N.T., but only in two places in the Gospels ( Matt.16:18 (twice) and Matt.18:17 (twice)). It's worth noting that when Jesus uses the term EKKLESIA, Christian community as we know it didn't yet exist—there were only the disciples. EKKLESIA is apparently different from 'synagogue' (SYNAGOGE (συναγωγη) which occurs 56 times in the N.T.) EKKLESIA is used in secular Greek literature of a popular assembly 'called to assemble', and also of those 'called' to a cult. EKKLESIA is used frequently in the N.T. outside of the Gospels to refer to Christian communities, but in Acts.7:38 it is used of the people of Israel led through the desert by Moses, and in Acts.19:32 ff. of a secular assembly. Thus, all told, the common translation of EKKLESIA as 'church' doesn't really reflect 1st century usage—it seems to mean more like 'a group of people assembled for some specific purpose'.

²or "companion", "intimate friend"

³MAGOS (μαγoς ) In the Greek world in general this word was used to mean: a member of the Persian priestly caste, or a possessor and user of supernatural knowledge and power (namely, a magician).

The LXX has the term only in Dan.2:2 for those who have magical and religious arts in Babylon.

In Matt. the reference seems to be to those who have special wisdom in reading the stars ( Matt.2:1, Matt.2:7, Matt.2:16) Astronomy and astrology were inseparable in that day, and represented a very advanced education. Babylonian mathematics in particular was surprisingly advanced: they had calculated the value of sqrt(2) to 6 significant digits(!), and were able to solve quadratic and cubic equations. In Acts.13:6 and Acts.13:8 MAGOS is parallel to PSEUDOPROPHETES (`pseudo-prophets'), and seems to be a reference to a house philosopher, who is possibly tempted to use the name of God magically.

The verb form, MAGEUO `to perform magic' (μαγευω) only occurs in

Acts.8:9

(This footnote lists every appearance of MAGOS and MAGEUO).

⁴MAGOS (μαγoς ) In the Greek world in general this word was used to mean: a member of the Persian priestly caste, or a possessor and user of supernatural knowledge and power (namely, a magician).

The LXX has the term only in Dan.2:2 for those who have magical and religious arts in Babylon.

The verb form, MAGEUO `to perform magic' (μαγευω) only occurs in

Acts.8:9

(This footnote lists every appearance of MAGOS and MAGEUO).

⁵KAIROS (καιρoς ) `opportune time', `proper time', `season'

⁶AITEO "ay-TEH-oh" (αιτεω) "request", "demand", "beg" something for oneself. Far from humbly requesting—it's more like 'demanding'. Jesus uses AITEO only of the prayer of others, not of His own (cf. John.16:26)—and not requesting things for Himself, only for others. AITEO seems to suppose a lesser degree of intimacy than EROTAO (ερωταω), hence AITEO is used of the requests of the disciples to God, but EROTAO of the requests of the disciples to Jesus, and of those of Jesus to the Father ( John.14:16). AITEO is demanding/begging/pleading, EROTAO is polite and friendlier. Both AITEO and EROTAO occur in John.16:26.

⁷Ps.89:20

⁸or "accusation"

⁹Ps.2:7

¹⁰Ps.16:10

¹¹imperative

¹²or "forgiveness"

¹³Hab.1:5

¹⁴from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.

¹⁵i.e. the Gentiles

¹⁶Isa.49:6

¹⁷i.e. the Gentiles

¹⁸GE "GAY" (γη) "earth", "land" (remember that they didn't understand about the Earth being a planet floating in space yet), sometimes "ground" or "dirt".

¹⁹i.e. the Gentiles