Acts 17:28

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are His offspring.'

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
Listen, we owe everything to him. Even some of your own bards have said, 'We are his kiddos.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'

Legacy Standard Bible
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His offspring.'

Bible in Basic English
For in him we have life and motion and existence; as certain of your verse writers have said, For we are his offspring.

Darby Translation
for in him we live and move and exist; as also some of the poets amongst you have said, For we are also his offspring.

New King James Version
for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, "For we are also His offspring.'

Christian Standard Bible®
For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.'

World English Bible
'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For in him we live and move, and have our being; as certain likewise of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Weymouth's New Testament
For it is in closest union with Him that we live and move and have our being; as in fact some of the poets in repute among yourselves have said, `For we are also His offspring.'

King James Version (1611)
For in him we liue, and mooue, and haue our being, as certaine also of your owne Poets haue said, For we are also his offspring.

Literal Translation
For in Him we live and move and exist, as also some of the poets among you have said, For we are also His offspring.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For in him we lyue, moue, and haue oure beynge, as certayne of youre awne Poetes also haue sayde: We are his generacion.

Mace New Testament (1729)
are moved, and do exist: even as some of your own poets have said, WE ARE EVEN HIS OFFSPRING.

Amplified Bible
"For in Him we live and move and exist [that is, in Him we actually have our being], as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'

American Standard Version
for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Revised Standard Version
for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.'

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For in him we lyve move and have oure beynge as certayne of youre awne Poetes sayde. For we are also his generacion.

Update Bible Version
for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Webster's Bible Translation
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.

Young's Literal Translation
for in Him we live, and move, and are; as also certain of your poets have said: For of Him also we are offspring.

New Century Version
‘By his power we live and move and exist.' Some of your own poets have said: ‘For we are his children.'

New English Translation
For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.'

Contemporary English Version
and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. "We are his children," just as some of your poets have said.

Complete Jewish Bible
‘for in him we live and move and exist.' Indeed, as some of the poets among you have said, ‘We are actually his children.'

English Standard Version
for "‘In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "‘For we are indeed his offspring.'

Geneva Bible (1587)
For in him we liue, and mooue, and haue our being, as also certaine of your owne Poets haue sayd, for we are also his generation.

George Lamsa Translation
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as some of your own wise men have said, For we are his kindred.

Hebrew Names Version
'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'

International Standard Version
For we live, move, and exist because of him, as some of your own poets have said: 'For we are his children, too.'Phainomena (5) of Aratus, a poet of Cicilian origin (3">[fn][fn][fn]Colossians 1:17; Titus 1:12; Hebrews 1:3;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For in him we live, and are moved, and are; as also one of your sages hath said, From him is our descent.

Murdock Translation
for in him it is we live, and move, and exist: as one of your own wise men hath said: From him is our descent.

New Living Translation
For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.'

New Life Bible
It is in Him that we live and move and keep on living. Some of your own men have written, ‘We are God's children.'

English Revised Version
for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

New Revised Standard
For ‘In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, in him, we live and move and are: as, even some of your own poets, have said - For, his offspring also, we are.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For in him we live and move and are: as some also of your own poets said: For we are also his offspring.

King James Version
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Lexham English Bible
for in him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said: ‘For we also are his offspring.'

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For in hym we liue, and moue, & haue our beyng, as certaine of your owne poetes sayde: for we are also his offpryng.

Easy-to-Read Version
It is through him that we are able to live, to do what we do, and to be who we are. As your own poets have said, ‘We all come from him.'

New American Standard Bible
for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His descendants.'

Good News Translation
as someone has said, ‘In him we live and move and exist.' It is as some of your poets have said, ‘We too are his children.'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For in hym we lyuen, and mouen, and ben. As also summe of youre poetis seiden, And we ben also the kynde of hym.

Contextual Overview

²²Then Paul stood up before the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³For as I walked around and examined your objects of worship, I even found an altar with the inscription: To an unknown God. Therefore what you worship as something unknown, I now proclaim to you. ²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands. ²⁵Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. ²⁶From one man He made every nation of men, to inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. ²⁸'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are His offspring.'²⁹Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man's skill and imagination. ³⁰Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all men everywhere to repent. ³¹For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising Him from the dead."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

in him: 1 Samuel 25:29, Job 12:10, Psalms 36:9, Psalms 66:9, Luke 20:38, John 5:26, John 11:25, Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3

as: Titus 1:12

we are: Luke 3:38, Hebrews 12:9

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:26 - in our Genesis 1:29 - I have Deuteronomy 30:20 - thy life Job 10:12 - life and favour Proverbs 20:24 - Man's Proverbs 24:12 - that keepeth Daniel 5:23 - in whose John 5:17 - My Acts 14:17 - he left Acts 17:25 - seeing Romans 11:36 - of him 1 Corinthians 8:6 - of whom

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For in him we live, and move, and have our being,.... The natural life which men live is from God; and they are supported in it by him; and from him they have all the comforts and blessings of life; and all motions, whether external or internal, of body or of mind, are of God, and none of them are without the concourse of his providence, and strength assistance from him; though the disorder and irregularity of these motions, whereby they become sinful, are of themselves, or of the devil; and their being, and the maintenance of it, and continuance in it, are all owing to the power and providence of God.

As certain also of your own poets have said; the Syriac version reads in the singular number, "as a certain one of your wise men has said"; but all others read in the plural; and some have thought, that the apostle refers to what goes before, that being an Iambic verse of some of the poets, as well as to what follows, which is a citation from Aratus x and whom the apostle might have called his own, as he was his countryman; for Aratus was a native of Solis, a city of Cilicia, not far from Tarsus yea, some say y he was of Tarsus, where the apostle was born: but Aratus being an Heathen, and the apostle speaking to Heathens, calls him one of them; and the rather, that what is cited might be the more regarded by them: though the expression is also z said to be in an hymn to Jove, written by Cleanthes, who taught at Athens; and so the apostle addressing the Athenians, might, with greater propriety, say, "as certain of your own poets say": it is also said to be in Aratus the astronomer, and in the poet Homer; so that the plural number may well be used. Which is,

for we are also his offspring; the offspring of Jove, says Aratus; which the apostle applies to the true Jehovah, the Creator of all men, by whom, and after whose image, they are made, and so are truly his offspring; upon which the apostle argues as follows.

x In Phaenomenis, p. 1. y Vid. Fabricii Biblioth. Gr. l. 3. c. 18. p. 451. z Vid. Fabricii Biblioth. Gr. l. 3. c. 18. p. 453.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For in him we live - The expression “in him” evidently means by him; by his originally forming us, and continually sustaining us. No words can better express our constant dependence on God. He is the original fountain of life, and he upholds us each moment. A similar sentiment is found in Plautus (5, 4,14): “O Jupiter, who dost cherish and nourish the race of man; by whom we live, and with whom is the hope of the life of all men” (Kuinoel). It does not appear, however, that Paul designed this as a quotation; yet he doubtless intended to state a sentiment with which they were familiar, and with which they would agree.

And move - κινούμεθα kinoumetha. Doddridge translates this, “And are moved.” It may, however, be in the middle voice, and be correctly rendered as in our version. It means that we derive strength to move from him; an expression denoting “constant and absolute dependence.” There is no idea of dependence more striking than that we owe to him the ability to perform the slightest motion.

And have our being - καὶ ἐσμέν kai esmen. And are. This denotes that our “continued existence” is owing to Him. That we live at all is his gift; that we have power to move is his gift; and our continued and prolonged existence is his gift also. Thus, Paul traces our dependence on him from the lowest pulsation of life to the highest powers of action and of continued existence. It would be impossible to express in more emphatic language our entire dependence On God.

As certain also - As some. The sentiment which he quotes was found substantially in several Greek poets.

Of your own poets - He does not refer particularly here to poets of Athens, but to Greek poets who had written in their language.

For we are also his offspring - This precise expression is found in Aratus (“Phaenom.,” v. 5), and in Cleanthus in a hymn to Jupiter. Substantially the same sentiment is found in several other Greek poets. Aratus was a Greek poet of Cilicia the native place of Paul, and flourished about 277 years before Christ. As Paul was a native of the same country it is highly probable he was acquainted with his writings. Aratus passed much of his time at the court of Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia. His principal work was the “Phoenomena,” which is here quoted, and was so highly esteemed in Greece that many learned men wrote commentaries on it. The sentiment here quoted was directly at variance with the views of the Epicureans; and it is proof of Paul’s address and skill, as well as his acquaintance with his auditors and with the Greek poets, that he was able to adduce a sentiment so directly in point, and that had the concurrent testimony of so many of the Greeks themselves. It is one instance among thousands where an acquaintance with profane learning may be of use to a minister of the gospel.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 17:28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being — He is the very source of our existence: the principle of life comes from him: the principle of motion, also, comes from him; one of the most difficult things in nature to be properly apprehended; and a strong proof of the continual presence and energy of the Deity.

And have our being — καιεσμεν, And we are: we live in him, move in him, and are in him. Without him we not only can do nothing, but without him we are nothing. We are, i.e. we continue to be, because of his continued, present, all-pervading, and supporting energy. There is a remarkable saying in Synopsis Sohar, p. 104. "The holy blessed God never does evil to any man. He only withdraws his gracious presence from him, and then he necessarily perisheth." This is philosophical and correct.

As certain also of your own poets — Probably he means not only Aratus, in whose poem, entitled Phaenomena, the words quoted by St. Paul are to be found literatim, του γαρ και γενος εσμεν; but also Cleanthus, in whose Hymn to Jupiter the same words (Εκ σου γαρ γενος εσμεν) occur. But the sentiment is found in several others, being very common among the more enlightened philosophers. By saying your own poets, he does not mean poets born at Athens, but merely Grecian poets, Aratus and Cleanthus being chief.

We are also his offspring. — Του γαρ και γενος εσμεν The Phaenomena of Aratus, in which these words are found, begins thus:-

Εκ Διος αρχωμεσθα, τον ουδεποτ' ανδρες εωμεν

Αρῤητον· μεϚαι δε Διος πασαι μεν αγυιαι,

Πασαι δ' ανθρωπων αγοραι· μεϚη δε θαλασσα,

Και λιμενες· παντη δε Διος κεχρημεθα παντες·

ΤΟΥ ΓΑΡ ΚΑΙ ΓΕΝΟΣ ΕΣΜΕΝ ὁ δ' ηπιος ανθρωποισι

Δεξια σημαινει. κ. τ. λ.

With Jove we must begin; nor from him rove;

Him always praise, for all is full of Jove!

He fills all places where mankind resort,

The wide-spread sea, with every shelt'ring port.

Jove's presence fills all space, upholds this ball;

All need his aid; his power sustains us all.

For we his offspring are; and he in love

Points out to man his labour from above:

Where signs unerring show when best the soil,

By well-timed culture, shall repay our toil, &c., &c.

Aratus was a Cilician, one of St. Paul's own countrymen, and with his writings St. Paul was undoubtedly well acquainted, though he had flourished about 300 years before that time.