Acts - 12:22



22 The people shouted, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!"

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Acts 12:22.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
And the people made acclamation, saying: It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.
And the people cried out, A god's voice and not a man's.
and the populace were shouting, 'The voice of a god, and not of a man;'
and the assembled people kept shouting, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!"
And the people, with loud cries, said, It is the voice of a god, not of a man.
Then the people were crying out, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!"
The people kept shouting, "It is the voice of God, and not of a person!"

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And the people gave a shout - A loud applause.
It is the voice of a god - It is not probable that the Jews joined in this acclamation, but that it was made by the idolatrous Gentiles. Josephus gives a similar account of their feelings and conduct. He says, "And presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another (though not for his good), that he was a god; and they added, 'Be thou merciful unto us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a king, yet shall we henceforth own thee as a superior to mortal nature.'" It is true that Josephus says that this was done when they saw his splendid apparel, and that he gives no account of his addressing the people, while Luke describes it as the effect of his speech. But the discrepancy is of no consequence. Luke is as credible an historian as Josephus, and his account is more consistent than that of the Jewish historian. It is far more probable that this applause and adoration would be excited by a speech than simply by beholding his apparel.

(10) And the people gave a shout, [saying, It is] the voice of a god, and not of a man.
(10) The flattery of people makes fools glad.

And the people gave a shout,.... At the end of the oration; these were flatterers, as Josephus says in the place before referred to, who cried out one from another, saluting him as God; saying, be merciful to us, hitherto we have revered thee as a man, henceforward we confess thee somewhat more excellent than mortal nature: and so it follows here,
saying it is the voice of a God, and not of a man; the Vulgate Latin version reads, "the voices of God and not men"; and the Ethiopic version, "the city shouted in, or with the voice of God", with the voice of man; as if this referred to the acclamation of the people, and not the speech of the king; very wrongly.

the people gave a shout, &c.--JOSEPHUS' account of his death is remarkably similar to this [Antiquities, 19.8.2]. Several cases of such deaths occur in history. Thus was this wretched man nearer his end than he of whom he had thought to make a public spectacle.

The people gave a shout. The people of CÃ&brvbr;sarea were, many of them at least, heathen. As we learn from Josephus, on the second day of the games, Herod, clad in robes of silver cloth, entered the theater, and standing in the sunshine, his robes reflected his splendor. Then he made an oration, and the people raised their shout: It is the voice of a god. It is thought that his speech was an announcement of his decision in the matter of difficulty with Tyre and Sidon, and that the embassadors were present.

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