Acts 17:8
in Acts 17On hearing this, the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they troubled the multitude and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.
KJV
And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things.
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This verse in Acts 17
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnd they troubled the people, and the rulers of the city,.... Fearing some revolution would be made, and some new king, or rather tyrant, would start up, and usurp a power over them; or that they should come under some suspicion or charge with the Roman government, and should be called to an account, for admitting such men and tenets among them; with such fears were they possessed, when they heard these things; alleged against the apostle and his company.
This site's exposition
The Jews, however, became jealous
on Acts 17:5-9
The Jews dragged Jason before the city officials and turned the message into sedition against Caesar, saying that there is another king. Luke calls these officials politarchs, the title found on an inscription from the Vardar Gate at Thessalonica.
This site's exposition
the crowd and city officials were greatly disturbed
Thessalonica was a free city under Rome, governing itself through its own officials. A charge of treason against Caesar could cost the city that freedom. The officials had reason to be disturbed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things." And what are ye afraid of, seeing He is dead?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The issue of this troublesome affair. The magistrates had no mind to prosecute the Christians. Care was taken to secure the apostles; they absconded, and fled, and kept out of their hands; so that nothing was to be done but to discharge Jason and his friends upon bail,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And they troubled the people and the rulers - It is evident that there was no disposition in either the people or the rulers to persecute the apostles. But these wicked Jews, by means of the unprincipled, wicked lawyers, those lewd fellows of the baser sort, threw the subject into the form of law, making it a state question, in which form the rulers were obliged to notice it; but they showed their unwillingness to proceed in a matter which they saw proceeded from malice, by letting Jason and his companions go off on bail.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And they troubled the people - They excited the people to commotion and alarm. The rulers feared the tumult that was excited, and the people feared the Romans, when they heard the charge that there were rebels against the government in their city. It does not appear that there was a disposition in the rulers or the people to persecute the apostles; but they were excited and alarmed by the representations of the Jews, and by the mob that they had collected.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἐτάραξαν | etaraxan | They stirred up | G5015 → | 17 times |
| δὲ | de | then | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄχλον | ochlon | crowd | G3793 → | 175 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| πολιτάρχας | politarchas | city authorities | G4173 → | |
| ἀκούοντας | akouontas | hearing | G191 → | 425 times |
| ταῦτα· | tauta | these things; | G3778 → | 1381 times |
ἐτάραξανThey stirred up
etaraxanG5015 →17 times
δὲthen
deG1161 →2765 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
ὄχλονcrowd
ochlonG3793 →175 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
τοὺςthe
tousG3588 →19766 times
πολιτάρχαςcity authorities
politarchasG4173 →
ἀκούονταςhearing
akouontasG191 →425 times
ταῦτα·these things;
tautaG3778 →1381 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Matthew 2:3When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
it leads to
- Acts 17:6–7
But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have now come here,
- John 11:47–48
Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
- Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
- Acts 17:6–7
Through
John 11:48If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15–16
who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
- Matthew 23:35–38
And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and…
- Daniel 9:26–27
Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end…
- Zechariah 14:1–2
Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.
- Matthew 27:25
All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
- 1 Thessalonians 2:15–16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies9
On this verse
About Acts
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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 37; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; R. J. Knowling, The Acts of the Apostles, The Expositor's Greek Testament; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen and William Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen.