Acts 17:20

We are surprised when we hear some of the things you say, and we want to understand what you mean.”

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.

In Context

19So they took Paul to a meeting of the city council, and they asked him, “What are you telling everyone? Tell us what this new message is all about.

21You see, the Athens people, and the people from other places that lived there, they liked to talk about new ideas all the time, and they liked to hear anything new that other people told them.

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Cross References

Mark 10:24This shocked Jesus’s followers. So he told them more. He said, “It is hard for anyone to let God be their boss. Think about a big camel. Do you reckon it can go through the little hole in a needle? No, it can’t. But I’m telling you, it’s more easy for a big camel to get through that little hole, than for a rich person to get into God’s family. Rich people find it really hard to let God be the boss over their lives.”

John 7:35The Jewish leaders asked each other, “Where will he go so that we can’t find him? Will he go and live with our Jewish countrymen in the country called Greece? Maybe he will start to teach Greek people his story.

Acts 10:17Peter sat there and thought, “What does this mean? What is God telling me?” While Peter was still trying to understand it, those 3 men from Cornelius walked into that town. They asked people, “Where does Simon live, the leather worker man?” And the people told them how to get there. Then they went to that house and stood outside the gate,

1 Corinthians 1:23But we are not like those people. We tell people about Jesus Christ, and we tell them that he died for them on the cross. The Jewish people can’t understand that. It isn’t what they want, so they don’t believe it. And the other people that are not Jews, they reckon it is stupid, so they don’t believe it.

Matthew Henry on Acts 17:17-22

Paul at Athens. 16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. 17 Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. 18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the… Read the whole commentary →

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