Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Acts 22:2

in Acts 22

When they heard him speak to them in Hebrew, they became even more silent. Then Paul declared,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And when they heard that he spake unto them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet: and he saith,

KJV

(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)

⋯

This verse in Acts 22

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Acts · Written before 1107.

"And when they heard that he spoke… in the Hebrew language." You see how it affected them that he spoke the same language as they did — they had a certain kind of respect for that language.

This site's exposition

hear ye my defence

on Acts 22:1-2

Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you: Paul opens with a respectful address, honoring the crowd’s own dignity even as it howls for his death moments before. When they heard him speak in the Hebrew tongue they kept the more silence, the language itself a bridge Paul builds before he says a single word of substance, since a crowd that expected a hellenized traitor hears instead a son of their own tongue. The speech that follows is the first of five defenses running through chapter twenty six, and the only one addressed to a Jewish crowd rather than to Roman officials.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 47 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

"And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence." Do you observe how the using the same tongue subdued them? In fact, they had a sort of awe for that language.

The Reformation1 voice

A commentator

John Calvin

1509–1564

Commentaries (1554)

Now, so soon as they heard their own language, they began to have some better hope. Furthermore, it is uncertain whether Paul spake in the Hebrew or in the Syrian tongue; for we know that the speech of the Jews was corrupt and degenerate after their exile, forasmuch as they had much from the Chaldeans and Syrians.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

When they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue - He had probably been traduced by the Jews of Asia as a mere Gentile, distinguished only by his virulence against the Jewish religion; which virulence proceeded from his malice and ignorance.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

when they heard . . . the Hebrew tongue--(See on Ac 21:40). they kept the more silence--They could have understood him in Greek, and doubtless fully expected the renegade to address them in that language, but the sound of their holy mother tongue awed them into deeper silence.

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

1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The Hebrew tongue - See the notes on Act 21:40.

The words behind it

13 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.

  • ἀκούσαντεςHaving heard

    akousantesG191 →425 times

  • δὲthen

    deG1161 →2765 times

  • ὅτιthat

    hotiG3754 →1292 times

  • τῇin the

    teaG3588 →19766 times

  • ἙβραΐδιHebrew

    hebraidiG1446 →3 times

  • διαλέκτῳlanguage

    dialektoG1258 →6 times

  • προσεφώνειhe was addressing

    prosephoneiG4377 →

  • αὐτοῖς,them,

    autoisG846 →5565 times

  • μᾶλλονeven more

    mallonG3123 →81 times

  • παρέσχονthey became

    pareschonG3930 →16 times

  • ἡσυχίαν.¶quiet.

    hesuchianG2271 →

  • ΚαὶAnd

    kaiG2532 →9120 times

  • φησίν·he says;

    phesinG5346 →66 times

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

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

5 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

    Acts 21:40

    Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:

    it leads to

    • Acts 12:17

      Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for…

    • John 5:2

      Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda.

    • Acts 26:14

      We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

    • Acts 19:33

      The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward to explain himself, and he motioned for silence so he could make his defense to the people.

    • Acts 21:35

      When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Acts: the study guide →Read Acts 22 →
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); J. A. Alexander, Acts of the Apostles Explained; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 47; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.

Read on in Acts 22 →