Acts 14:8-13

Paul and Barnabas at Lystra

14:8 In ¹  Lystra ²  sat a man who could not use his feet, ³  lame from birth, ⁴  who had never walked. 14:9 This man was listening to Paul as he was speaking. When Paul ⁵  stared ⁶  intently at him and saw he had faith to be healed, 14:10 he said with a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” ⁷  And the man ⁸  leaped up and began walking. ⁹  14:11 So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted ¹⁰  in the Lycaonian language, ¹¹  “The gods have come down to us in human form!” ¹²  14:12 They began to call ¹³  Barnabas Zeus ¹⁴  and Paul Hermes, ¹⁵  because he was the chief speaker. 14:13 The priest of the temple ¹⁶  of Zeus, ¹⁷  located just outside the city, brought bulls ¹⁸  and garlands ¹⁹  to the city gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifices to them. ²⁰ 

[14:8]  ¹ tn Grk “And in.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[14:8]  ² sn Lystra was a city in Lycaonia about 18 mi (30 km) south of Iconium.

[14:8]  ³ tn Grk “powerless in his feet,” meaning he was unable to use his feet to walk.

[14:8]  ⁴ tn Grk “lame from his mother’s womb” (an idiom).

[14:9]  ⁵ tn Grk “speaking, who.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the noun “Paul,” and a new sentence begun in the translation because an English relative clause would be very awkward here.

[14:9]  ⁶ tn Or “looked.”

[14:10]  ⁹ tn BDAG 722 s.v. ὀρθός 1.a has “stand upright on your feet.”

[14:10]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:10]  ¹¹ tn This verb is imperfect tense in contrast to the previous verb, which is aorist. It has been translated ingressively, since the start of a sequence is in view here.

[14:11]  ¹³ tn Grk “they lifted up their voice” (an idiom).

[14:11]  ¹⁴ 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.

[14:11]  ¹⁵ 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.”

[14:12]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verb ἐκάλουν (ekaloun) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[14:12]  ¹⁸ sn Zeus was the chief Greek deity, worshiped throughout the Greco-Roman world (known to the Romans as Jupiter).

[14:12]  ¹⁹ 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).

[14:13]  ²¹ tn The words “the temple of” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. The translation “the priest of (the temple/shrine of) Zeus located before the city” is given for this phrase by BDAG 426 s.v. Ζεύς.

[14:13]  ²² sn See the note on Zeus in the previous verse.

[14:13]  ²³ tn Or “oxen.”

[14:13]  ²⁴ tn Or “wreaths.”

[14:13]  ²⁵ tn The words “to them” are not in the Greek text, but are clearly implied by the response of Paul and Barnabas in the following verse.