Acts 14:11-12

14:11 So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted ¹  in the Lycaonian language, ²  “The gods have come down to us in human form!” ³  14:12 They began to call ⁴  Barnabas Zeus ⁵  and Paul Hermes, ⁶  because he was the chief speaker.

¹ tn Grk “they lifted up their voice” (an idiom).

² tn Grk “in Lycaonian, saying.” The word “language” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

³ tn So BDAG 707 s.v. ὁμοιόω 1. However, L&N 64.4 takes the participle ὁμοιωθέντες (Jomoiwqente") as an adjectival participle modifying θεοί (qeoi): “the gods resembling men have come down to us.”

⁴ tn The imperfect verb ἐκάλουν (ekaloun) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

⁵ sn Zeus was the chief Greek deity, worshiped throughout the Greco-Roman world (known to the Romans as Jupiter).

⁶ sn Hermes was a Greek god who (according to Greek mythology) was the messenger of the gods and the god of oratory (equivalent to the Roman god Mercury).