But Paul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn’t go with them to do the work.
Parallel Translations
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But Paul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn’t go with them to do the work.
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But Paul thought it not mete to take him vnto their company whiche departed from them at Pamphylia and went not with them to the worke.
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But Paul thought it not meete to take him vnto their companie, which departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the worke.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Acts 15:38 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 13:13 Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem.
- Psalms 78:9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
- Proverbs 25:19 Confidence in someone unfaithful in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a lame foot.
- Luke 14:27-34 Whoever doesn’t bear his own cross, and come after me, can’t be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and count the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Or perhaps, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, everyone who sees begins to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build, and wasn’t able to finish.’ Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an envoy, and asks for conditions of peace. So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple. Salt is good, but if the salt becomes flat and tasteless, with what do you season it?
- James 1:8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- Luke 9:61 Another also said, “I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 38 But Paul thought not good to take him…
38 But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.
Ver. 38. Who departed from them] Providing for his own ease; for they were then to take a tedious and dangerous journey over the high hill Taurus. This John liked not, but left them, and went his ways.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This deserting of Paul and Barnabas by John, is…
This deserting of Paul and Barnabas by John, is mentioned Act 13:13.
To the work; the work unto which the Spirit had called them, Act 13:2, which was to offer life and salvation unto the Gentiles, and to gather them into the fold of Jesus Christ. This objection was very considerable, and ought to have weighed more than this John’s propinquity, or nearness in blood, unto Barnabas.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the contention was so sharp between them,.... About…
And the contention was so sharp between them,.... About this matter; Barnabas insisting on it, that John Mark should go with them, he being a relation of his; and in whose favour it might be urged, that his mother Mary was an excellent good woman, who had received the saints into her house, in a time of persecution; and that it should be considered, that this her son was but a young man, and could not be thought to have that courage, resolution, constancy, and solidity, as older professors and ministers; and that his crime was not very heinous, and should be overlooked. Paul, on the other hand, opposing his going with them, as a very unworthy person, because he had behaved so cowardly, and had shown such a coldness and indifference to the work of the ministry, and had so shamefully left them; and thus they disputed the point till there was a paroxysm between them, as is the word used: they were irritated and provoked by one another, and were so warmed and heated on both sides,
that they departed asunder one from another; thus as soon almost as peace was made in the church, a difference arises among the ministers of the word, who are men of like passions with others; and though it is not easy to say which was to blame most in this contention; perhaps there were faults on both sides, for the best men are not without their failings; yet this affair was overruled by the providence of God, for the spread of his Gospel, and the enlargement of his interest; for when these two great and good men parted from one another, they went to different places, preaching the word of God:
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and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus;
See Gill on Act 13:4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain But Paul thought it not right - To trust…
But Paul thought it not right - To trust him again, who had deserted them before: who had shrunk from the labour and danger of converting those they were now going to confirm.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 38. But Paul thought not good to take…
Verse 38. But Paul thought not good to take him with them] On this subject, See Clarke on Ac 13:13.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But Paul thought not good - Did not think…
But Paul thought not good - Did not think it proper. Because he could not confide in his perseverance with them in the toils and perils of their journey.
Who departed from them ... - Act 13:13. Why he did this is not known. It was evidently, however, for some cause which Paul did not consider satisfactory, and which, in his view, disqualified him from being their attendant again.
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To the work - Of preaching the gospel.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain But Paul thought not good to take him with…
But Paul thought not good to take him with them who departed from them--that is, who had departed; but the word is stronger than this--"who stood aloof" or "turned away" from them.
from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work--the work yet before them. The allusion is to what is recorded in Act 13:13 (see on Act 13:13).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 38. Thought not good—Barnabas previously determined, Paul thought not…
38. Thought not good—Barnabas previously determined, Paul thought not good; these phrases, both in the Greek and the English, imply personal will on the one side, and moral decision on the other.
Departed… went not—Mark’s fault is unreliability, desertion from the post where he was invited and needed. He had probably gone home to his mother’s (Barnabas’ sister’s) house at Jerusalem, and staid until Barnabas took him thence to Antioch, and had given to Paul no proof of any new firmness of character.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 38. who departed from them] See above Act_13:14. He…
38. who departed from them] See above Act_13:14. He turned back to Jerusalem from Perga.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Take with them him for take him with them,…
Take with them him for take him with them, A.V.; withdrew for departed, A.V. Withdrew. The Greek word ajpostanta (from which comes the substantive apostasy) is a strong one, and denotes decided blame, as does the indication of the opposite course, by way of contrast, which he did not take. "He did not go with them to the work" to which God called them, as he ought to have done. The whole phrase, too, which follows is strongly worded. "Paul thought good," as regards one who had turned back from the work, "not to take that man." The mh sumparalabein of ver. 38 is, as Meyer observes, sharply opposed to the sumparalabein of ver. 37. Luke evidently sides strongly with Paul, and almost reproduces the ipsis-sima verba of the "sharp contention." One would infer that this passage was penned by Luke before the reconciliation which appears in 2Ti_4:11, and that we have here an indication of the early date of the publication of "The Acts." Perhaps also there is an indication in the narrative, coupled with Mark"s subsequent attach-merit to Peter, that Mark rather leant at this time to Judaizing views, and that his previous departure "from the work" was partly owing to a want of complete sympathy with St. Paul"s doctrine. St. Paul would have no halfhearted helper in his grand and arduous work.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 36
See notes on verse 36
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.