Acts 14:11
New International Version
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

New Living Translation
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!”

English Standard Version
And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

Berean Standard Bible
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in the Lycaonian language: “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

Berean Literal Bible
And the crowds having seen what Paul had done, lifted up their voice in Lycaonian saying, "The gods have come down to us, having become like men."

King James Bible
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

New King James Version
Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

New American Standard Bible
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us!”

NASB 1995
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”

NASB 1977
And when the multitudes saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”

Legacy Standard Bible
And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”

Amplified Bible
And the crowds, when they saw what Paul had done, raised their voices, shouting in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

Christian Standard Bible
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form! ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!”

American Standard Version
And when the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
When the crowds of people had seen this thing that Paulus had done, they raised their voices in the language of the country, and they were saying, “The gods have become like men and have come down to us.”

Contemporary English Version
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they yelled out in the language of Lycaonia, "The gods have turned into humans and have come down to us!"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when the multitudes had seen what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice in the Lycaonian tongue, saying: The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men;

English Revised Version
And when the multitudes saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The crowds who saw what Paul had done shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come to us, and they look human."

Good News Translation
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they started shouting in their own Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!"

International Standard Version
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!"

Literal Standard Version
and the multitudes having seen what Paul did, lifted up their voice in the speech of Lycaonia, saying, “The gods, having become like men, came down to us”;

Majority Standard Bible
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in the Lycaonian language: “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

New American Bible
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they cried out in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in human form.”

NET Bible
So when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!"

New Revised Standard Version
When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”

New Heart English Bible
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, "The gods have come down to us in human form."

Webster's Bible Translation
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men.

Weymouth New Testament
So he sprang up and began to walk about. Then the crowds, seeing what Paul had done, rent the air with their shouts in the Lycaonian language, saying, "The gods have assumed human form and have come down to us."

World English Bible
When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”

Young's Literal Translation
and the multitudes having seen what Paul did, did lift up their voice, in the speech of Lycaonia, saying, 'The gods, having become like men, did come down unto us;'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Visit to Lystra and Derbe
10In a loud voice Paul called out, “Stand up on your feet!” And the man jumped up and began to walk. 11When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices in the Lycaonian language: “The gods have come down to us in human form!” 12Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.…

Cross References
Ezekiel 3:5
For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel--

Acts 8:10
and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, "This man is the divine power called the Great Power."

Acts 14:6
they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding region,

Acts 14:12
Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.

Acts 28:6
The islanders were expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.


Treasury of Scripture

And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

The gods.

Acts 8:10
To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.

Acts 12:22
And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.

Acts 28:6
Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

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Air Crowd Crowds Gods Language Lifted Likeness Multitude Multitudes Paul Rent Shouted Shouts Speech Sprang Voice Voices Walk
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Air Crowd Crowds Gods Language Lifted Likeness Multitude Multitudes Paul Rent Shouted Shouts Speech Sprang Voice Voices Walk
Acts 14
1. Paul and Barnabas are persecuted from Iconium.
8. At Lystra Paul heals a cripple, whereupon they are reputed as gods.
19. Paul is stoned.
21. They pass through various churches, confirming the disciples in faith and patience.
26. Returning to Antioch, they report what God had done with them.














(11) Saying in the speech of Lycaonia.--The fact is clearly recorded with a definite purpose, and no explanation seems so natural as that which assumes it to be given as accounting for the passive attitude of the Apostles till what was then said had borne its fruit in acts. It will be admitted by all who are not under the influence of a theory that this serves almost as a crucial instance, showing that the "gift of tongues," which St. Paul possessed so largely (1Corinthians 14:18), did not consist in a supernatural knowledge of every provincial patois with which he came in contact. (See Note on Acts 2:4.) It is clear that he might easily have learnt afterwards, from those who knew both languages, the meaning of what at the time was unintelligible. To suppose, as some have done, that the Apostles, understanding what was said, acquiesced in the preparations for sacrifice in order that they might afterwards make their protest as with a greater dramatic effect, is at variance with the natural impression made by the narrative, and, it need scarcely be said, with any worthy conception of St. Paul's character. The diglottic character of the people, here and in other Asiatic provinces of the empire, would make it perfectly natural that they should speak to one another in their own dialect, while Greek served for their intercourse with strangers. The "speech of Lycaonia" is said to have had affinities with Assyrian.

The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.--Literally, the gods, made like unto men, are come down to us. The belief which the words expressed was characteristic of the rude simplicity of the Lycaonians. No such cry would have been possible in the great cities where the confluence of a debased polytheism and philosophical speculation had ended in utter scepticism. And the form which the belief took was in accordance with the old legends of the district. There, according to the Myth which Ovid had recently revived and adorned (Metam. viii. 625-724), Zeus and Hermes (Jupiter and Mercury) had come in human guise, and been received by Baucis and Philemon (St. Paul's Epistle to Philemon shows that the name lingered in that region), and left tokens of their favour. We find from the poem just referred to that the place where they had dwelt was looked on as a shrine to which devout worshippers made their pilgrimages, and where they left their votive offerings.

Verse 11. - Multitudes for people, A.V.; voice for voices, A.V. In the speech of Lycaonia. It is not known what the language of Lycaonia was, whether Cappadocian, or Celtic, or Lycian; but we learn incidentally from Stephanus Byzantinus, that there was a Lycaonian language, for he tells us that Delbia (as some write the name Derbe) was the Lycaonian for ἄρκευθος, a juniper tree or berry. No other Lycaonian word is known (see "Jablouskii Disquis. de Ling. Lycaon," in Stephan., 'Thesaur.'). The Lycaoniaus doubtless understood Greek as the language of intercommunication all over Roman Asia, but among themselves would speak their native dialect. The belief that the gods were come down in the likeness of men, and that these gods were Jupiter and Hermes, or Mercury, was most natural to Lycaonians, who were conversant with, and doubtless believed, the Phrygian legend of Philemon and Baucis, who entertained hospitably Jupiter and Hermes, when no one else would take them in, and whose cottage was by the gods turned into a temple (when all the neighborhood was drowned by a flood), of which they were made priest and priestess during life, and simultaneously metamorphosed into an oak and lime tree when their life ended (Ovid, 'Metamorph.,'8:611, etc.). Ovid places the scene of the legend at Tyana, the site of which has been ascertained by Hamilton to be near Erekli, in Cappadocia, close to the borders of Lycaonia. The moral drawn in the legend itself seems to have been that which influenced the people of Lycaonia in their conduct towards the two strangers: "Cura pii dis sunt, et qui coluere coluntur," which may be Englished, "Them that honor me I will honor" (1 Samuel 2:30).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[When]
τε (te)
Conjunction
Strong's 5037: And, both. A primary particle of connection or addition; both or also.

the
Οἵ (Hoi)
Article - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

crowds
ὄχλοι (ochloi)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3793: From a derivative of echo; a throng; by implication, the rabble; by extension, a class of people; figuratively, a riot.

saw
ἰδόντες (idontes)
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3708: Properly, to stare at, i.e. to discern clearly; by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear.

what
(ho)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

Paul
Παῦλος (Paulos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3972: Paul, Paulus. Of Latin origin; Paulus, the name of a Roman and of an apostle.

had done,
ἐποίησεν (epoiēsen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 4160: (a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.

they lifted up
ἐπῆραν (epēran)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1869: To raise, lift up. From epi and airo; to raise up.

their
αὐτῶν (autōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

voices
φωνὴν (phōnēn)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5456: Probably akin to phaino through the idea of disclosure; a tone; by implication, an address, saying or language.

in the Lycaonian language:
Λυκαονιστὶ (Lykaonisti)
Adverb
Strong's 3072: In the Lycaonian language. Adverb from a derivative of Lukaonia; Lycaonistically, i.e. In the language of the Lycaonians.

“The
Οἱ (Hoi)
Article - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

gods
θεοὶ (theoi)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

have come down
κατέβησαν (katebēsan)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2597: To go down, come down, either from the sky or from higher land, descend. From kata and the base of basis; to descend.

to
πρὸς (pros)
Preposition
Strong's 4314: To, towards, with. A strengthened form of pro; a preposition of direction; forward to, i.e. Toward.

us
ἡμᾶς (hēmas)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

in human form!”
ὁμοιωθέντες (homoiōthentes)
Verb - Aorist Participle Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3666: To make like, liken; I compare. From homoios; to assimilate, i.e. Compare; passively, to become similar.


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NT Apostles: Acts 14:11 When the multitude saw what Paul had (Acts of the Apostles Ac)
Acts 14:10
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