Acts 13:18
in Acts 13He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And for about the time of forty years as a nursing-father bare he them in the wilderness.
KJV
And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
⋯
This verse in Acts 13
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAbout the time of forty years - The space of time between their coming out of Egypt, and going into the promised land. Suffered he their manners - Ετροποφορησεν αυτους; He dealt indulgently with them: howsoever they behaved towards him, he mercifully bore with, and kindly treated them. But instead of ετροποφορησεν, ACE, some others, with the Syriac, Arabic, Coptic, Ethiopic, and some of the fathers, read ετροφοφορησεν, which signifies, he nourished and fed them, or bore them about in his arms as a tender nurse does her child.
This site's exposition
suffered he their manners in the wilderness
on Acts 13:18-19
About the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness renders a Greek verb that the oldest manuscripts and versions read two ways, bore with their manners or carried them as a nurse carries a child, a single letter's difference in the underlying text. Both readings draw on the same wilderness record and neither changes the sermon's argument, so the bench presents both without settling which the author wrote. Paul moves on to the conquest, destroying seven nations and dividing the land to Israel by lot, the same history Stephen's speech surveyed at greater length in chapter seven.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Of these things, the wonders which were done in Egypt, the prophets are continually making mention. And observe, how he passes over the times of their calamities, and nowhere brings forward their faults, but only God's kindness, leaving those for themselves to think over. "And about the time of forty years suffered He their manners in the wilderness."
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And about the time of forty years,....
Some think it should be read, etrophophoresen -- he educated them, because this is the word the Septuagint use concerning the fatherly care God took of that people, Deut. i.
The preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles at their request, and upon the Jews' refusal of it, wherein the apostles justified themselves against the displeasure which the Jews conceived at it, and God owned them,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And about the time of forty years - They were this time going from Egypt to the land of Canaan. Exo 16:35; Num 33:38. Suffered he their manners - This passage has been very variously rendered. See the margin. Syriac, “He nourished them,” etc. Arabic, “He blessed them, and nourished them,” etc. The Greek word is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. It properly means to tolerate, or endure the conduct of anyone, implying that that conduct is evil, and tends to provoke to punishment. This is doubtless its meaning here. Probably Paul referred to the passage in Deu 1:31, “The Lord thy God bare thee.” But instead of this word, ἐτροποφόρησεν etropophorēsen to bear with, many mss. read ἐτροφοφόρησεν etrofoforēsen), “he sustained or nourished.” This reading was followed by the Syriac, Arabic, and has been admitted by Griesbach into the text. This is also found in the Septuagint, in Deu 1:31, which place Paul doubtless referred to. This would well suit the connection of the passage; and a change of a single letter might easily have occurred in a ms. It adds to the probability that this is the true reading, that it accords with Deu 1:31; Num 11:12; Deu 32:10. It is furthermore not probable that Paul would have commenced a discourse by reminding them of the obstinacy and wickedness of the nation. Such a course would rather tend to exasperate than to conciliate; but by reminding them of the mercies of God to them, and showing them that He had been their protector, he was better fitting them for his main purpose - that of showing them the kindness of the God of their fathers in sending to them a Saviour. In the wilderness - The desert through which they passed in going from Egypt to Canaan.
The words behind it
9 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ὡς | hos | of about | G5613 → | 500 times |
| τεσσερακονταετῆ | tesserakontaete | forty years | G5063 → | |
| χρόνον | chronon | for a period | G5550 → | 53 times |
| ἐτροποφόρησεν | etropophoresen | He endured the ways | G5159 → | |
| αὐτοὺς | autous | of them | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἐρήμῳ, | eremo | wilderness, | G2048 → | 48 times |
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ὡςof about
hosG5613 →500 times
τεσσερακονταετῆforty years
tesserakontaeteG5063 →
χρόνονfor a period
chrononG5550 →53 times
ἐτροποφόρησενHe endured the ways
etropophoresenG5159 →
αὐτοὺςof them
autousG846 →5565 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
ἐρήμῳ,wilderness,
eremoG2048 →48 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 7:36He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
it leads to
- Exodus 14:21
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were…
- Exodus 12:41
At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 33:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and…
- Psalms 78:12–33
He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
- Exodus 14:27–29
So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea.
- Exodus 14:21
Where this verse is studied
About Acts
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 29; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.