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Updated Bible Version

Acts 19:37

For you have brought [here] these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Citizens;   Demetrius;   Mob;   Paul;   Prudence;   Tact;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Acts, book of;   Ephesus;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Gods and Goddesses, Pagan;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Ordination;   Relics;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Diana;   Robbery;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Corinth;   Paul;   Roman Empire;   Town Clerk;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Acts;   Demetrius;   Ephesus;   Gods, Pagan;   Masons;   Silversmith;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Bible;   Blasphemy;   Churches, Robbers of;   Corinthians, Second Epistle to;   Romans, Epistle to the;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Blasphemy ;   Ephesus ;   Jew, Jewess;   Persecution;   Robbers of Churches;   Roman Law in the Nt;   Town-Clerk;   Tyrannus ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Churches, Robbers of;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Ephesians;   Ephesus;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Saul of Tarsus;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blasphemy;   Goddess;   Robbers of Temples;   Sacrilege;   Temples, Robbers of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess.
King James Version (1611)
For ye haue brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of Churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddesse:
King James Version
For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
English Standard Version
For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.
New American Standard Bible
"For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
New Century Version
You brought these men here, but they have not said anything evil against our goddess or stolen anything from her temple.
Amplified Bible
"For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.
Legacy Standard Bible
For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.
Berean Standard Bible
For you have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed our temple nor blasphemed our goddess.
Contemporary English Version
You have brought men in here who have not robbed temples or spoken against our goddess.
Complete Jewish Bible
For you have brought these men here who have neither robbed the temple nor insulted your goddess.
Darby Translation
For ye have brought these men, [who are] neither temple-plunderers, nor speak injuriously of your goddess.
Easy-to-Read Version
"You brought these men here, but they have not said anything bad against our goddess. They have not stolen anything from her temple.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For yee haue brought hither these men, which haue neither committed sacrilege, neither doe blaspheme your goddesse.
George Lamsa Translation
For you have brought these men here who have neither robbed temples nor have they reviled our goddess.
Good News Translation
You have brought these men here even though they have not robbed temples or said evil things about our goddess.
Lexham English Bible
For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
Literal Translation
For you brought these men, being neither temple robbers nor blaspheming your goddess.
American Standard Version
For ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.
Bible in Basic English
For you have taken these men, who are not doing damage to the holy place or talking against our goddess.
Hebrew Names Version
For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.
International Standard Version
For you have brought these men here, although they neither rob temples nor blaspheme ouryour
">[fn] goddess.
Etheridge Translation
Yet have you brought these men who have neither spoiled temples nor blasphemed our goddess.
Murdock Translation
For ye have brought forward these men, when they have robbed no temples, and have not reviled our goddess.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For ye haue brought hyther these men, which are neither robbers of Churches nor yet despisers of your goddesse.
English Revised Version
For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.
World English Bible
For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For ye have brought these men, who are neither robbers of temples, nor blasphemers of your goddess.
Weymouth's New Testament
For you have brought these men here, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for ye han brouyt these men, nethir sacrilegeris, nethir blasfemynge youre goddesse.
Webster's Bible Translation
For ye have brought hither these men, who are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
New English Translation
For you have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
New King James Version
For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your [fn] goddess.
New Living Translation
You have brought these men here, but they have stolen nothing from the temple and have not spoken against our goddess.
New Life Bible
The men you brought here do not rob houses of worship or talk against our god.
New Revised Standard
You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For ye have brought these men, neither as temple-robbers, nor as defaming our goddess.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For you have brought hither these men, who are neither guilty of sacrilege nor of blasphemy against your goddess.
Revised Standard Version
For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For ye have brought hyther these me whiche are nether robbers of churches nor yet despisers of youre goddes.
Young's Literal Translation
`For ye brought these men, who are neither temple-robbers nor speaking evil of your goddess;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Ye haue broughte hither these men, which are nether churchrobbers ner blasphemers off youre goddesse.
Mace New Testament (1729)
for the men you have brought here, have neither plunder'd your temples, nor inveigh'd against your goddess.
Simplified Cowboy Version
These boys you brought in have not stolen, damaged, or spoke against Artemis."

Contextual Overview

21 Now after these things had ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. 22 And having sent into Macedonia two of those that served him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for awhile. 23 And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen; 25 whom he gathered together, with the workers of like occupation, and said, Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth. 26 And you see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are no gods, that are made with hands: 27 and not only is there danger that this trade of ours come into disrepute; but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be made of no account, and that she should even be deposed from her magnificence whom all Asia and the world worships. 28 And when they heard this they were filled with wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Artemis of the Ephesus. 29 And the city was filled with the confusion: and they rushed with one accord into the theatre, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel. 30 And when Paul was minded to enter in to the people, the disciples did not allow him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

which: Acts 25:8, 1 Corinthians 10:32, 2 Corinthians 6:3

Reciprocal: Acts 24:6 - gone

Cross-References

Genesis 19:1
And the two angels came to Sodom at evening; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth;
Genesis 19:18
And Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my lord:
Genesis 19:25
and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew on the ground.
Genesis 19:27
And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Yahweh:
Genesis 19:31
And the first-born said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth:
Numbers 21:29
Woe to you, Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh: He has given his sons as fugitives, And his daughters into captivity, To Sihon king of the Amorites.
Deuteronomy 2:9
And Yahweh said to me, Don't vex Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession.
Deuteronomy 2:19
and when you come near across from the sons of Ammon, don't vex them, nor contend with them; for I will not give you of the land of the sons of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession.
Deuteronomy 23:3
An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the assembly of Yahweh forever:
Ruth 4:10
Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead shall not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For ye have brought hither these men,.... The Arabic version reads, "these two men"; that is, Gaius and Aristarchus, whom they had brought by force into the theatre to fight with wild beasts:

which are neither robbers of churches; or "temples"; or, as the Arabic version renders it, "robbers of the vessels of the temple", sacrilegious persons; they have not stolen anything out of the temple of Diana, nor any other:

nor yet blasphemers of your goddess; they have not made mention of her name, much less said anything against her, at least this officer did not know that they had; and if he had, he did not stick to tell an officious lie to screen them, as did the Egyptian midwives in favour of the Hebrew women.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For ye ... - Demetrius and his friends. The blame was to be traced to them.

Which are neither robbers of churches - The word “churches” we now apply to edifices reared for purposes of Christian worship. Since no such churches had then been built, this translation is unhappy, and is not at all demanded by the original. The Greek word ἱεροσύλους hierosulous is applied properly to those who commit sacrilege; who plunder temples of their sacred things. The meaning here is that Paul and his companions had not been guilty of robbing the temple of Diana, or any other temple. The charge of sacrilege could not be brought against them. Though they had preached against idols and idol worship, yet they had offered no violence to the temples of idolaters, nor had they attempted to strip them of the sacred utensils employed in their service. What they had done, they had done peaceably.

Nor yet blasphemers of your goddess - They had not used harsh or reproachful language of Diana. This had not been charged on them, nor is there the least evidence that they had done it. They had opposed idolatry; had reasoned against it; and had endeavored to turn the people from it. But there is not the least evidence that they had ever done it in harsh or reproachful language. This shows that people should employ reason, and not harsh or reproachful language against a pervading evil; and that the way to remove it is to enlighten the minds of people, and to convince them of the error of their ways. People gain nothing by bitter and reviling words; and it is much to obtain the testimony of even the enemies of religion as Paul did of the chancellor of Ephesus - that no such words had been used in describing their crimes and follies.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 37. These men - are neither robbers of churches — ιρεσυλους; Spoilers of sacred places. As his design evidently was to appease and conciliate the people, he fixed first on a most incontrovertible fact: These men have not spoiled your temples; nor is there any evidence that they have even blasphemed your goddess. The apostles acted as prudent men should: they endeavoured to enlighten the minds of the multitude, that the absurdity of their gross errors might be the more apparent; for, when they should know the truth, it was likely that they would at once abandon such gross falsehood.


 
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