Acts 13:42-44

13:42 As Paul and Barnabas ¹  were going out, ²  the people ³  were urging ⁴  them to speak about these things ⁵  on the next Sabbath. 13:43 When the meeting of the synagogue ⁶  had broken up, ⁷  many of the Jews and God-fearing proselytes ⁸  followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and were persuading ⁹  them ¹⁰  to continue ¹¹  in the grace of God.

13:44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city assembled together to hear the word of the Lord. ¹² 

[13:42]  ¹ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Paul and Barnabas) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:42]  ² tn Or “were leaving.” The participle ἐξιόντων (exiontwn) is taken temporally.

[13:42]  ³ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:42]  ⁴ tn Or “begging,” “inviting.”

[13:42]  ⁵ tn Or “matters.”

[13:43]  ⁶ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.

[13:43]  ⁷ tn BDAG 607 s.v. λύω 3 has “λυθείσης τ. συναγωγῆς when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up Ac 13:43.”

[13:43]  ⁸ tn Normally the phrase σεβόμενοι τὸν θεόν (sebomenoi ton qeon) refers to Gentiles (“God-fearers”) who believed in God, attended the synagogue, and followed the Mosaic law to some extent, but stopped short of undergoing circumcision. BDAG 918 s.v. σέβω 1.b lists in this category references in Acts 16:14; 18:7; with σεβόμενοι alone, Acts 13:50; 17:4, 17; the phrase is also found in Josephus, Ant. 14.7.2 (14.110). Unique to this particular verse is the combination σεβόμενοι προσηλύτων (sebomenoi proshlutwn). Later rabbinic discussion suggests that to be regarded as a proper proselyte, a Gentile male had to submit to circumcision. If that is the case here, these Gentiles in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch should be regarded as full proselytes who had converted completely to Judaism and undergone circumcision. It is probably more likely, however, that προσηλύτων is used here in a somewhat looser sense (note the use of σεβομένας [sebomena"] alone to refer to women in Acts 13:50) and that these Gentiles were still in the category commonly called “God-fearers” without being full, technical proselytes to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44. Regardless, the point is that many Gentiles, as well as Jews, came to faith.

[13:43]  ⁹ tn This is the meaning given for ἔπειθον (epeiqon) in this verse by BDAG 791 s.v. πείθω 1.b.

[13:43]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “who, as they were speaking with them, were persuading them.”

[13:43]  ¹¹ tn The verb προμένειν (promenein) is similar in force to the use of μένω (menw, “to reside/remain”) in the Gospel and Epistles of John.

[13:44]  ¹¹ tc Most mss (B* C E Ψ Ï sy bo) read θεοῦ (qeou, “of God”) here instead of κυρίου (kuriou, “of the Lord”). Other mss, among them some important early witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א A B² 33 81 323 945 1175 1739 al sa), read κυρίου. The external evidence favors κυρίου, though not decisively. Internally, the mention of “God” in v. 43, and especially “the word of God” in v. 46, would provide some temptation for scribes to assimilate the wording in v. 44 to these texts.