Acts 22:2

Acts 22:2

1 “Brethren^a and fathers, hear my defense before you now.”

2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in the ^aHebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said:

3 ^a“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city ^bat the feet of ^cGamaliel, taught ^daccording to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and ^ewas zealous toward God ^fas you all are today.

4 ^aI persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,

5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and ^aall the council of the elders, ^bfrom whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus ^cto bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

6 “Now ^ait happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.

7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

Commentaries:

Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)

<< Acts 22:1

Acts 22:3 >>

He spake (prosefwnei). Imperfect active, was speaking. See aorist active prosefwnhsen in Acts 21:40.

They were the more quiet (mallon paresxon hsuxian). Literally, The more (mallon) they furnished or supplied (second aorist active indicative of parexw) quietness (hsuxian, old word, in the N.T. only here and II Thessalonians 3:12; I Timothy 2:11 ff.). Precisely this idiom occurs in Plutarch (Cor. 18) and the LXX (Job 34:29). Knowling notes the fondness of Luke for words of silence (sigh, sigaw, hsuxazw) as in Luke 14:4; Luke 15:26; Acts 11:18; Acts 12:17; Acts 15:12; Acts 21:14, Acts 21:40. It is a vivid picture of the sudden hush that swept over the vast mob under the spell of the Aramaic. They would have understood Paul's Koin‚ Greek, but they much preferred the Aramaic. It was a masterstroke.

**Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 22:2:**

Acts 21:18
Acts 26:14
Philippians 3:5
1 Timothy 2:11

<< Acts 22:1

Acts 22:3 >>

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