When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city
Parallel Translations
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When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city
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and brought them to the officers sayinge: These men trouble oure cite which are Iewes
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And brought them to the gouernours, saying, These men which are Iewes, trouble our citie,
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Acts 16:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- James 4:4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
- John 15:18-20 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
- Acts 28:22 But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”
- Romans 12:2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
- 1 Kings 18:17-18 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken Yahweh’s commandments, and you have followed the Baals.
- Ezra 4:12-15 Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations. Be it known now to the king that if this city is built and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings. Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not appropriate for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will see in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have started rebellions within it in the past. That is why this city was destroyed.
- Esther 3:8-9 Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain. If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
- Matthew 2:3 When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
- Acts 17:6-8 When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also, whom Jason has received. These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus!” The multitude and the rulers of the city were troubled when they heard these things.
- Acts 18:2 He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
- Acts 19:34 But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice for a time of about two hours cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 20. These men trouble our city. This accusation was…
20. These men trouble our city. This accusation was craftily composed to burden the servants of Christ. For on the one side they pretend the name of the Romans, than which nothing was more favorable; on the other, they purchase hatred, and bring them in contempt, by naming the Jews, which name was at that time infamous; for, as touching religion, the Romans were more like to any than to the Jewish nation. For it was lawful for a man which was a Roman to do sacrifice either in Asia or in Grecia, or in any other country where were idols and superstitions. I warrant you Satan did agree with himself very well, though he put on divers shapes, but that which was religion only, than which there was no other in the world, was counted among the Romans detestable. They frame a third accusation out of the crime of sedition; for they pretend that the public peace is troubled by Paul and his company. In like sort was Christ brought in contempt, (Luke 23:5) and even at this day the Papists have no more plausible thing wherewith they may bring us to be hated, than when they cry that our doctrine tendeth to no other end but to confusion of all things. But we must valiantly contemn this filthy and false infamy as did Christ and Paul, until the Lord bring to light the malice of our enemies, and refute their impudence.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Covetousness pretendeth a desire of common peace and godliness.
Covetousness pretendeth a desire of common peace and godliness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These…
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
Ver. 20. Trouble our city] Faithful preachers have ever been by the wicked accounted trouble towns; these covetous caitiffs (wretches) had not so much ingenuity as the devil himself, Act 16:17.
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 Magistrates, the same who are called rulers; and the…
Magistrates, the same who are called rulers; and the word here shows, that they were under the power of the sword, and ruled by the Romans; though the rulers spoken of in the former verse might be the civil magistrates of the city, and the magistrates here mentioned might be the commanders of the forces therein. They carried them, as they did our Saviour, from one to the other, the more to disgrace them, and to obtain the greater punishment for them. They mention their
being Jews, because it was a most odious name unto all men, by reason of their different opinions in religion, and diversity of manners in conversation from all.
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 brought them to the magistrates,.... The same as…
And brought them to the magistrates,.... The same as before; wherefore the Syriac version omits them there, and reads them both together here, calling them the magistrates and chief men of the city; though the word here used, properly signifies military captains, captains of the Roman militia: but that they were the same with the Decuriones, or ten men before mentioned, appears from what Harpocratian says (k), that every year were chosen "ten magistrates", the word here used:
saying, these men being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city; they call Paul and Silas Jews, either because they knew them to be so, or because they attended at the Jewish oratory, or place of worship; and it was common with the Romans to call the Christians Jews; they were generally included in the same name; and this name of the Jews was become very odious with the Romans; a little after this, Claudius commanded them, the Jews, to depart from Rome, Act 18:2 they were commonly looked upon as a troublesome and seditious sort of people, and indeed this was the old charge that was fastened upon them, Ezr 4:15. So that it was enough to say that Paul and Silas were Jews, to prove them to be disturbers of the public peace: and it is to be observed, that their accusers make no mention of the dispossessing of the maid, who was their private property, and which was a private affair; but pretend a concern for the public welfare, and bring a charge of public disturbance and detriment, to which their malice and revenge prompted them, hoping in this way the better to succeed: the Arabic version reads, "these two men trouble our city, and they are both Jews".
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(k) Lexicon, p. 274.
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 Being Jews - A nation peculiarly despised by the…
Being Jews - A nation peculiarly despised by the Romans.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. Brought them to the magistrates] στρατηγοις, The…
Verse 20. Brought them to the magistrates] στρατηγοις, The commanders of the army, who, very likely, as this city was a Roman colony, possessed the sovereign authority. The civil magistrates, therefore, having heard the case, as we shall soon find, in which it was pretended that the safety of the state was involved, would naturally refer the business to the decision of those who had the supreme command.
Exceedingly trouble our city] They are destroying the public peace, and endangering the public safety.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And brought them to the magistrates - To the…
And brought them to the magistrates - To the military rulers στρατηγοῖς stratēgois or praetors. Philippi was a Roman colony, and it is probable that the officers of the army exercised the double function of civil and military rulers.
Do exceedingly trouble our city - In what way they did it they specify in the next verse. The charge which they wished to substantiate was that of being disturbers of the public peace. All at once they became conscientious. They forgot the subject of their gains, and were greatly distressed about the violation of the laws. There is nothing that will make people more hypocritically conscientious than to denounce, and detect, and destroy their unlawful and dishonest practices. People who are thus exposed become suddenly filled with reverence for the Law or for religion, and they who have heretofore cared nothing for either become greatly alarmed lest the public peace should be disturbed. People slumber quietly in sin, and pursue their wicked gains; they hate or despise all law and all forms of religion; but the moment their course of life is attacked and exposed, they become full of zeal for laws that they Would not themselves hesitate to violate, and for the customs of religion which in their hearts they thoroughly despise. Worldly-minded people often thus complain that their neighborhoods are disturbed by revivals of religion; and the preaching of the truth, and the attacking of their vices, often arouses this hypocritical conscientiousness, and makes them alarmed for the laws, and for religion, and for order, which they at other times are the first to disturb and disregard.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Jews. this was the name the first Christians went…
Jews. this was the name the first Christians went by among the pagans. Indeed our Saviour’s being born of that nation, and his disciples adoring the same God, and following the same morality and Scriptures as the Jews, were sufficient reasons to make them confounded. When Suetonius relates that Claudius banished the Jews from Rome, he means the Christians. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain These men, being Jews--objects of dislike, contempt, and suspicion…
These men, being Jews--objects of dislike, contempt, and suspicion by the Romans, and at this time of more than usual prejudice.
do exceedingly trouble our city--See similar charges, Act 17:6; Act 24:5; Kg1 18:17. There is some color of truth in all such accusations, in so far as the Gospel, and generally the fear of God, as a reigning principle of human action, is in a godless world a thoroughly revolutionary principle . . . How far external commotion and change will in any case attend the triumph of this principle depends on the breadth and obstinacy of the resistance it meets with.
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 20. Magistrates—The pretors, for so the duumviri, or twin…
20. Magistrates—The pretors, for so the duumviri, or twin magistrates, claimed to be called. Saying—It was difficult to frame a charge against them. Had a pig been stolen from them there was law in their behalf, but no compensation for a lost demon. To have restored the unhappy maid from her unhappy condition—fit emblem of the salvation she ascribed to them—was a beneficent deed which Roman justice could adjudge to be no crime.
These men—But a mob, with a magistrate to match, will be at no loss for a charge against their common victim.
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Being Jews… being Romans— Here is an antithesis amply sufficient to start a temper, and the deeds will easily be supplied with a pretext. The Jews had lately been expelled from Rome as troublers of that city; and why should not this proud little Macedonian image of Rome enact the same measure?
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 20. and brought them to the magistrates] These strategoi…
20. and brought them to the magistrates] These strategoi were the duumviri, the two praetors specially appointed to preside over the administration of justice, in cases where there was no appeal to Rome, in the municipia and colonies of the Romans. The title in the Greek seems to indicate somewhat of a military authority, which could administer summary punishment.
being Jews] On the ways in which Roman aversion was aroused and exhibited towards the Jews, for their religious exclusiveness, see Mayor, Juvenal, xiv. 96–106 notes, with the authorities there given.
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do exceedingly trouble] Only found here in the N. T. The kind of trouble is indicated Act_17:6, “These that have turned the world upside down” is their description.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) The magistrates.—The Greek word used (Stratêgi, literally, generals—the…
(20) The magistrates.—The Greek word used (Stratêgi, literally, generals—the name survived in 1750 in the Italian Stradigo, used of the prefect of Messina) is used with St. Luke’s usual accuracy, for the prætors, or duumviri, who formed the executive of the Roman colonia.
These men, being Jews.—We must remember that the decree of Claudius (see Note on Act_18:2), banishing the Jews from Rome on account of their disturbing that city, would be known, and probably acted on, at Philippi (see Notes on Act_16:12-13), and would give a special force to the accusation. Here, also, there is something specially characteristic of the nature of many of the early persecutions. Christians were exposed, on the one hand, to the relentless enmity of the Jews, and, on the other, they were identified by heathen rulers and mobs with the Jews, and so came in, where the latter were the objects of popular antipathy, for a two-fold measure of suffering.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain When they had brought for brought, A.V.; unto for…
When they had brought for brought, A.V.; unto for to, A.V.; they said for saying, A.V. The magistrates; strathgoi, i.e. the praetors. Philippi, being a colony, was governed by Roman magistrates called duumviri, corresponding to the two consuls at Rome. But we learn from Cicero that in his time the duuraviri in the colonies were beginning to be called praetors, a little previously used only at Rome ("De Leg. Agrar.," 34), and to be preceded by lictors (rJabdoucaoi of ver. 35). Two inscriptions have been found in which the duumviri of Philippi are mentioned (Lewin, p. 26).
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 19
See notes on verse 19
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.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (Greek - Α ," Roman magistrates).
magistrates
(Greek - Α ," Roman magistrates).
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.