except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
Parallel Translations
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except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
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but that the holy goost witnesseth in every cite sayinge: that bondes and trouble abyde me.
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Saue that ye holy Ghost witnesseth in euery citie, saying, that bondes and afflictions abide me.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Acts 20:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 9:16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
- Acts 21:4 Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days. These said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
- 1 Thessalonians 3:3 that no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you know that we are appointed to this task.
- Acts 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom.
- Acts 21:33 Then the commanding officer came near, arrested him, commanded him to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he was and what he had done.
- Acts 21:11 Coming to us and taking Paul’s belt, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘So the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”
- 2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us.
- John 16:33 I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.”
- Acts 8:29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go near, and join yourself to this chariot.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 23. But that the Holy Ghost. I do not…
23. But that the Holy Ghost. I do not understand this of secret oracles, but of those foretellings which he heard everywhere of the prophets. And this speech hath greater dignity to set forth the prophecies, than if the men themselves which spake were called and cited to be witnesses. For by this means the word of God hath his [its] authority, when we confess that the Spirit of God is the author thereof, though the ministers be men. Now, forasmuch as the same Spirit, which foretelleth Paul of bonds and tribulations, doth also hold him fast bound that he cannot refuse to submit himself unto him, by this we learn, that what dangers soever hang over our heads, we are not thereby acquitted, but that we must obey the commandments of God, and follow his calling. In vain, therefore, do those men flatter themselves, who will do good so long as they be free from molestation, and may make discommodities, damages, and dangers of death, sufficient excuses.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every…
23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
Ver. 23. Bonds and afflictions abide me] Let no faithful minister dream of a delicacy, or think by any discretion to prevent affliction, but be ready, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, to suffer hardship. To preach is nothing else but to derive upon himself the hate and rage of graceless men, saith Luther.
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 1. Those that were endued with the Spirit of…
1. Those that were endued with the Spirit of prophecy, in every city, foretold his sufferings; as Act 21:4,11.
2. He did suffer more or less in every city or place he came to; so great was the malice of the Jews against him.
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 now behold,.... This is not only a note…
And now behold,.... This is not only a note of asseveration, but of attention, stirring up to observe what is here asserted:
I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more; the sense is, that none of them should ever see him again, none of the churches of Asia, or the members of them; among whom he had been some years preaching the Gospel, the things concerning the Messiah, his kingdom and glory, and the meetness of the saints for, and their right unto the heavenly inheritance, prepared by God, and given by him to all that love him: Beza's ancient copy reads, "the kingdom of Jesus": this the apostle knew by divine revelation, by the same spirit in which he was going bound to Jerusalem, though he knew not whether he should die there or elsewhere; however, he knew, and was persuaded, he should visit these parts no more.
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 Save that - Only this I know in general;…
Save that - Only this I know in general; the Holy Ghost witnesseth - By other persons. Such was God's good pleasure to reveal these things to him, not immediately, but by the ministry of others.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Save that - Except that. This was all that…
Save that - Except that. This was all that he knew, that bonds and afflictions were to be his portion.
The Holy Ghost witnesseth - Either by direct revelation to him, or by the predictions of inspired men whom Paul might meet. An instance of the latter mode occurs in Act 21:11. It is probable that the meaning here is that the Holy Spirit had deeply impressed the mind of Paul by his direct influences, and by his experience in every city, that bonds and trials were to be his portion. Such had been his experience in every city where he had preached the gospel by the direction of the Holy Spirit, that he regarded it as his certain portion that he was thus to be afflicted.
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In every city - In almost every city where Paul had been, he had been subjected to these trials. He had been persecuted, stoned, and scourged. So uniform was this, so constant had been his experience in this way, that he regarded it as his certain portion to be thus afflicted, and he approached Jerusalem, and every other city, with a confident expectation that such trials awaited him there.
Saying - In his experience, by direct revelation, and by the mouth of prophets, Act 21:11. When Paul was called to the apostleship it was predicted that he would suffer much, Act 9:16.
Bonds - Chains. That I would be bound, as prisoners are who are confined.
Abide me - See the margin. They remain or wait for me; that is, I must expect to suffer them.
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 In every city. There were in every city Christian…
In every city. There were in every city Christian prophets, who foretold to Paul the tribulations which awaited him. It appears, then, that the apostle did not know these things by immediate revelation made to himself, but by that made to the prophets. Of this we have a proof in the next chapter.
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 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,…
Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, &c.--by prophetic utterances from city to city, as in Act 11:4; Act 21:10-11. Analogous premonitions of coming events are not unknown to the general method of God's providence. They would tend to season the apostle's spirit.
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 23. Holy Ghost witnesseth—The prophetic testimony of the Spirit…
23. Holy Ghost witnesseth—The prophetic testimony of the Spirit within his own heart.
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 23. save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every…
23. save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city] The oldest MSS. add “unto me.” Rev. Ver. “testifieth unto me.” The Holy Ghost had called him to the work (Act_13:2) and moved the disciples (Act_21:4) and Agabus (Act_21:11) to warn him of the sufferings which were at hand. We may suppose too that such warnings came more frequently than St Luke has recorded them.
saying … abide me] The two nouns are combined in Php_1:16, “supposing to add affliction to my bonds,” where the sense is, as most likely here, mental grief in addition to bodily constraint. Such “afflictions” were harder to bear than the “bonds.”
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 (23) The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city.—This can…
(23) The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city.—This can hardly refer to mere internal previsions of the future, but implies, like the analogous phraseology of 1Ti_4:1, predictions uttered by the mouth of prophets, such as that which was afterwards spoken by Agabus (Act_21:11). In every city, Corinth, Berœa, Thessalonica, Philippi, Troas, there had been like utterances, of which, though they are here implied, we have no separate record. There was a general dread as to the results of his journey, which led the disciples who loved him to dissuade him from attempting it. We may trace the influence of such predictions in the anxiety which he himself expresses when he asks for the prayers of his friends at Rome (Rom_15:30-31) that he may be delivered from those that did not believe in Judæa. The words are not without their value as throwing light on the nature and limits of inspiration. The prophets of whom St. Paul speaks were truly inspired, as far as their prevision of the future was concerned, and yet that inspiration did not make them infallible advisers, and the Apostle felt that he was right in acting on those convictions of his own in which he, too, recognised the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
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 Testifieth unto me for witnesseth, A.V. and T.R. The…
Testifieth unto me for witnesseth, A.V. and T.R. The Holy Ghost, speaking by the prophets in the different Church assemblies, as the apostle journeyed from city to city. We have one instance of such prophesying recorded in Act_21:10, Act_21:11. The instances to which St. Paul here alluded were not mentioned in Luke"s brief narrative.
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 22
See notes on verse 22
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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 20:23 the Holy Spirit tells me: See, e.g., 21:10-12.
20:23 the Holy Spirit tells me: See, e.g., 21:10-12.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.