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Acts 13:52

in Acts 13

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

KJV

And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

This verse in Acts 13

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Acts · Written before 1107.

"And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." The teachers were being persecuted, yet they rejoiced: such is the power of the Gospel. The suffering of the teacher does not take away boldness from the disciple, but makes him more courageous.

This site's exposition

stirred up the devout and honourable women

on Acts 13:50-52

The Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts, the socially prominent converts turned instruments of the opposition, likely through their husbands' civic standing in the colony. Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust of their feet against them, obeying the Lord's own instruction in Luke 9:5 and 10:11 for a town that refuses the gospel, and came to Iconium, the next stop rather than a retreat. The disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost, Luke's closing note on the whole chapter, joy standing directly against the persecution just narrated rather than after it has passed.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 30 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

"And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost," for the suffering of the teacher does not check his boldness, but makes the disciple more courageous.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Acts · Written before 735.

proposed

And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. In the Greek it is: "But the disciples," so that we may understand, while the Jews were persecuting the faith, the disciples were enriched in contrast with spiritual joy.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), so that the design of this chapter is to show how cautiously, how gradually, and with what good reason the apostles carried the gospel into the Gentile world, and admitted the Gentiles into the church, which was so great an offence to the Jews, and which Paul is so industrious to justify in his epistles.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And the disciples were filled with joy,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost - Though in the world they had tribulation, yet in Christ they had peace; and, while engaged in their Master’s work, they always had their Master’s wages. The happiness of a genuine Christian lies far beyond the reach of earthly disturbances, and is not affected by the changes and chances to which mortal things are exposed. The martyrs were more happy in the flames than their persecutors could be on their beds of down. St. Paul’s sermon at Antioch has been thus analyzed.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

the disciples--who, though not themselves expelled, had to endure sufferings for the Gospel, as we learn from Ac 14:22. were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost--who not only raised them above shame and fear, as professed disciples of the Lord Jesus, but filled them with holy and elevated emotions.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

And the disciples - The disciples in Antioch. Were filled with joy - This happened even in the midst of persecution, and is one of the many evidences that the gospel is able to fill the soul with joy even in the severest trials.

The words behind it

8 Greek words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Galatians 5:22

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

    it leads to

    • Colossians 3:12–17

      Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

    • 1 Corinthians 13:4–7

      Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

    • John 15:5

      I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.

    • James 3:17–18

      But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

    • John 15:2

      He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.

  • Through

    Romans 15:13

    Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

    it leads to

    • 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17

      Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,

    • Romans 12:12

      Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer.

  • Through

    Romans 5:3

    Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

    it leads to

    • James 1:2–3

      Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Acts; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 30; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts and William Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen.