Acts 19:39
in Acts 19But if you are seeking anything beyond this, it must be settled in a legal assembly.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But if ye seek anything about other matters, it shall be settled in the regular assembly.
KJV
But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
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This verse in Acts 19
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHe gently rebukes them, showing that they acted rashly and that it was not proper to hold a public assembly for private reasons.
This site's exposition
the law is open
on Acts 19:38-41
If Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a genuine grievance, the clerk says, the law is open and there are deputies, proconsuls holding regular court, so let the matter be tried there rather than settled by a mob in a theatre. Anything beyond that belongs to a lawful assembly, not this one, and he warns that Rome itself may call the city to account for the day's uproar, since an unauthorized riot was itself a crime under Roman administration and Ephesus's own privileged status as a free city could be revoked for tolerating one. Having spoken, he dismisses the assembly, and the riot ends without a single recorded injury to Paul, Gaius, or Aristarchus. The bench reads the town clerk's intervention as ordinary Roman civic order functioning, unknowingly, as the means by which providence protects the gospel's advance in one of its most important cities, closing the Ephesian episode exactly as the growth panel of verse 20 had already promised it would close, the word prevailing.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Afflictions cut us off from the sympathy we have for the present world, as appears in this, that we wish for death immediately, and cease to be loving of the body: which very thing is the greatest part of wisdom, to have no hankering, no ties to the present life. The soul which is afflicted does not wish to be concerned about many things: repose and stillness are all it desired, content for its part to have done with the things present, even though there be nothing else to follow.
A great good is affliction: and we learn this from our own children: for without affliction a boy would learn nothing useful. But we, more than they, need affliction. For if there, when the passions as yet are quiet, chastisement benefits them, how much more us, especially possessed as we are by so many! Nay, we behoove rather to have schoolmasters than they: since the faults of children cannot be great, but ours are exceeding great. Our schoolmaster is affliction. Let us then not draw it down willingly upon ourselves, but when it is come let us bear it bravely, being, as it is, always the cause of numberless good things; that so we may both obtain grace from God, and the good things which are laid up for them that love Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
"But if ye enquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly." "A lawful assembly," he says, for there were three assemblies according to law in each month; but this one was contrary to law.
Seest thou how God permits trials, and by them stirs up and awakens the disciples, and makes them more energetic? Then let us not sink down under trials: for He Himself will "also make the way of escape, that we may be able to bear them." Nothing so makes friends, and rivets them so firmly, as affliction: nothing so fastens and compacts the souls of believers: nothing is so seasonable for us teachers in order that the things said by us may be heard. For the hearer when he is in ease is listless and indolent, and seems to suffer annoyance from the speaker: but when he is in affliction and distress, he falls into a great longing for the hearing. For when distressed in his soul, he seeks on all sides to find comfort for his affliction: and the preaching brings no small comfort.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. 7 And all the men were about twelve. Ephesus was a city of great note in Asia, famous for a temple built there to Diana, which was one of the wonders of the world: thither Paul came to preach the gospel while Apollos was at Corinth (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But if ye inquire anything concerning other matters,.... Than what belongs to the craft and business of Demetrius, and the artificers: it shall be determined in a lawful assembly; that is, called together according to law, and who have a right to hear, try, and judge causes, which such a confused lawless assembly as this in the theatre had not.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
But if we inquire - If you seek to determine any other matters than that pertaining to the alleged wrong which Demetrius has suffered in his business. Other matters - Anything respecting public affairs; anything pertaining to the government and the worship of Diana. In a lawful assembly - In an assembly convened, not by tumult and riot, but in conformity to law.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
"With this we may compare various legends concerning images and pictures in the Romish Church, such as the traditional likenesses of Christ, which were said to be "not made with hands"" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
But if ye inquire any thing concerning other matters - In which the safety of the state, or the national worship, is concerned, know that such a matter is not the business of the mob; it must be heard and determined in a lawful assembly, εν τη εννομῳ εκκλησιᾳ, one legally constituted, and properly authorized to hear and determine on the subject.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| εἰ | ei | If | G1487 → | 508 times |
| δέ | de | however | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| τι | ti | anything | G5100 → | 528 times |
| περαιτέρω | peraitero | beyond this | ||
| ἐπιζητεῖτε, | epizeteite | you inquire, | G1934 → | 13 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| τῇ | tea | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἐννόμῳ | ennomo | lawful | G1772 → | |
| ἐκκλησίᾳ | ekklesia | assembly | G1577 → | 113 times |
| ἐπιλυθήσεται. | epiluthesetai | it will be solved. | G1956 → |
εἰIf
eiG1487 →508 times
δέhowever
deG1161 →2765 times
τιanything
tiG5100 →528 times
περαιτέρωbeyond this
peraitero
ἐπιζητεῖτε,you inquire,
epizeteiteG1934 →13 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
τῇthe
teaG3588 →19766 times
ἐννόμῳlawful
ennomoG1772 →
ἐκκλησίᾳassembly
ekklesiaG1577 →113 times
ἐπιλυθήσεται.it will be solved.
epiluthesetaiG1956 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
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 42; 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.