Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Acts 14:2

in Acts 14

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But the Jews that were disobedient stirred up the souls of the Gentiles, and made them evil affected against the brethren.

KJV

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.

This verse in Acts 14

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Stirred up the Gentiles - Των εθνων, Such as were mere heathens, and thus distinguished from the Jews, and the Greeks who were proselytes. Evil affected - Εκακωσαν, Irritated or exasperated their minds against the brethren, the disciples of Christ; one of their appellations before they were called Christians at Antioch. See on Act 11:26 (note).

This site's exposition

into the Jewish synagogue

on Acts 14:1-2

At Iconium a great number of Jews and Greeks believed, and the split runs through the synagogue. The unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers, the method that follows the apostles to Lystra in verse 19.

This site's exposition

poisoned their minds against the brothers

Codex Bezae adds that the Lord soon gave the brothers peace. The addition eases the step to verse 3, where Paul and Barnabas stay a considerable time and speak boldly. Luke's shorter text sets the hostility and the long stay side by side.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Ammonius of Alexandria

CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 14.2 · Written before 300.

proposed

They caused an uprising against the faithful. The Jews joined forces with the Greeks so that what was said in the psalm might be fulfilled: "Why do the nations clamor and peoples devise plans in vain?" when, all the while, the faithful, throughout all their …

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 30 · Written before 407.

proposed

"But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren." Together with themselves now they took to stirring up the Gentiles too, as not being themselves sufficient. Then why did the Apostles not go forth thence? Why, they were not driven away, only attacked.

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 30 · Written before 407.

proposed

"Made their minds evil-affected," it says, "against the brethren": i.e. slandered the Apostles, raised numberless accusations against them: these people, being simple, they "made evil-affected," disposed them to act a malignant part.

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Acts · Written before 735.

proposed

They stirred up the souls of the Gentiles against the brothers. What follows in Greek: "But God made peace," is missing in some Latin manuscripts. And there: "They were preaching," it follows in Greek: "And the whole multitude was moved by their teaching."

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Acts · Written before 1107.

proposed

"The unbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the hearts of the Gentiles against the brethren." They stirred up the Gentiles as well, not being content with rising up themselves. But the apostles did not leave the synagogue, since they were not being driven out, but …
3 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): they stirred up the Gentiles. The influence which the gospel had upon many of the Gentiles, and their embracing it, as it provoked some of the Jews to a holy jealousy and stirred them up to receive the gospel too ( Rom. xi. 14 ), so it provoked others of them to a wicked jealousy, and exasperated them against the gospel.

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

But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

But the unbelieving Jews ... - See the notes on Act 13:50. And made their minds evil-affected - Irritated, or exasperated them. Against the brethren - One of the common appellations by which Christians were known.

The words behind it

14 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

    Acts 14:19

    Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead.

    it leads to

    • 2 Timothy 3:11

      my persecutions, and the sufferings that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Acts 13:45

      But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Corinthians 11:25

      Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

    • Acts 13:50–51

      The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

    • Acts 14:5

      But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,

  • Through

    Acts 13:50

    The Jews, however, incited the religious women of prominence and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their district.

    it leads to

    • Acts 17:13

      But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God in Berea, they went there themselves to incite and agitate the crowds.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Acts 14:19

      Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, presuming he was dead.

  • Through

    Acts 13:45

    But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and they blasphemously contradicted what Paul was saying.

    it leads to

    • Jude 1:10

      These men, however, slander what they do not understand, and like irrational animals, they will be destroyed by the things they do instinctively.

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.
The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.
This page draws on 11 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); Ammonius of Alexandria, CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 14.2; Bede, Commentary on Acts; J. A. Alexander, The Acts of the Apostles Explained; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 30; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; R. J. Knowling, The Acts of the Apostles, Expositor's Greek Testament; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts and W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen.