And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

And when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, he shook out his raiment and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

But they gainsaying and blaspheming, he shook his garments, and said to them: Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.

But as they opposed and spoke injuriously, he shook his clothes, and said to them, Your blood be upon your own head: I am pure; from henceforth I will go to the nations.

and on their resisting and speaking evil, having shaken his garments, he said unto them, 'Your blood is upon your head, I am clean; henceforth to the nations I will go on.'

And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads; I am clean; from now on I will go to the Gentiles.

But upon their opposing him with abusive language, he shook his clothes by way of protest, and said to them, "Your ruin will be upon your own heads. I am not responsible: in future I will go among the Gentiles."

And when they put themselves against him, and said evil words, he said, shaking his clothing, Your blood be on your heads, I am clean: from now I will go to the Gentiles.

But since they were contradicting him and blaspheming, he shook out his garments and said to them: "Your blood is on your own heads. I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles."

However, as they set themselves against him and became abusive, Paul shook his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads. My conscience is clear. From this time forward I will go to the Gentiles."

When they gainsayed. The Jews suffered Paul after a sort until he came unto the manifest preaching of Christ. And here brake out their rage. And we must note the speech, that they go from gainsaying unto blaspheming and railing. For it falleth out thus for the most part, when men take to themselves such liberty, that the devil doth inflame them by little and little unto greater madness. For which cause, we must take good heed that no wicked lust or desire provoke us to resist the truth; and, above all, let that horrible judgment terrify us which the Spirit of God thundereth out by the mouth of Paul against all rebels. For undoubtedly, in that Paul by shaking his garments gave some token of detestation, it was no human or private indignation, but zeal kindled by God in his heart; yea, God raised him up to be a preacher and setter forth of his vengeance, to the end the enemies of the word might know that they should not escape scot free for their stubbornness. We spake somewhat touching this sign of execration or cursing in the thirteenth chapter, (Acts 13:51.) Let the readers repair thither. The sum is, that God is sorer displeased with contempt of his word than with any wickedness. And surely, men be quite past hope when they tread under foot, or drive from them, the only remedy of all evils and maladies. Now, as the Lord cannot abide rebellion against his word, so it ought to sting and nettle us full sore. My meaning is this, that when the wicked enter combat with God, and, as it were, arm themselves to resist, we are called, as it were, by the heavenly trumpet unto the conflict, because there is nothing more filthy than that the wicked should mock God to his face, whilst we say nothing, and that they should even break out into reproaches and blasphemies. Your blood. He denounceth to them vengeance, because they be without excuse. For they can shift no part of their fault from themselves, after that despising the calling of God they have endeavored to put out the light of life. Therefore, seeing they bear the blame of their own destruction, he doth also affirm that they shall be punished. And in saying that he is clean, he testifieth that he hath done his duty, it is well known what the Lord giveth all his ministers in charge in Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 3:18.) If thou show not unto the wicked that he may convert, [1] I will require his blood at thy hand. Therefore Paul (because he did what he could to bring the Jews to repentance) doth acquit himself of all guiltiness. And by these words, teachers are warned that unless they will be guilty of blood before the Lord, they must do what in them lieth to bring those which go astray into the way, and that they suffer nothing to perish through ignorance. I will go undo the Gentiles. Though the Jews had showed themselves to be most ready to be taught, yet ought Paul to have employed himself to teach the Gentiles, whose apostle and minister he was made; but here he expresseth the passage whereby he withdrew himself from the stubborn Jews for all. For he observed this course in teaching, that beginning with the Jews he might couple the Gentiles with them in the society of faith, and so might make of both together one body of the Church. When there remained no hope to do any good among the Jews, then the Gentiles only remained. Therefore, the sense is this, that they must be deprived of their own inheritance, that it may be given to the Gentiles, and so be wounded, partly that being stricken with fear, yea, being cast down, [2] they might come to soundness of mind; partly that the emulation or striving of the Gentiles might prick them forward unto repentance. But because they were incurable, reproach and shame served for this purpose only to bring them into despair.

Footnotes

1 - "Si non annunciaveris ut se convertat," if you do not warn the wicked to be converted.

2 - "Confusi," confounded.

And when they opposed themselves - To him and his message.
And blasphemed - See the notes on Acts 13:45.
He shook his raiment - As an expressive act of shaking off the guilt of their condemnation. Compare Acts 13:45. He shook his raiment to show that he was resolved henceforward to have nothing to do with them; perhaps, also, to express the fact that God would soon slake them off, or reject them (Doddridge).
Your blood - The guilt of your destruction is your own. You only are the cause of the destruction that is coming upon you. See the notes on Matthew 27:25.
I am clean - I am not to blame for your destruction. I have done my duty. The gospel had been fairly offered and deliberately rejected; and Paul was not to blame for their ruin, which he saw was coming upon them.
I will go - See Acts 13:46.

When they opposed - Αντιτασσομενων, Systematically opposing, putting themselves in warlike order against him: so the word implies.
And blasphemed - This is precisely the way in which they still act. They have no arguments against Jesus being the Messiah; but, having made a covenant with unbelief, as soon as they are pressed on this point, they rail and blaspheme. - See the Tela ignea Satanae, by Wagenseil.
He shook his raiment - This was an action similar to that of shaking the dust of the feet; see on Matthew 10:14 (note). See a parallel act, and its signification, in Nehemiah 5:13 : Also I Shook My Lap, and said, So shall God Shake every man From His House and From his Labor; even thus shall he be Shaken Out and Emptied. St. Paul's act on this occasion seems to have been the same with this of Nehemiah, and with the same signification; and it is likely that he was led by a Divine impulse to do it - thus signifying the shaking and emptying out of this disobedient people, which took place about sixteen years afterwards.
Your blood be upon your own heads - That is, ye alone are the cause of the destruction that is coming upon yourselves and upon your country.
I am clean - Καθαρος εγω, I am pure or innocent of your death and ruin. I have proposed to you the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the only means by which ye can be saved, and ye have utterly rejected it. I shall labor no more with you; and, from henceforth, shall confine my labors to the Gentiles. St. Paul must refer to the Jews and Gentiles of Corinth particularly; for he preached to the Jews occasionally in other places; see Acts 19:8, Acts 19:9; and several were brought to the knowledge of the truth. But it seems as if the Jews from this time systematically opposed the Gospel of Christ; and yet, general tenders of this salvation were made to them wherever the apostles came; and when they rejected them, the word was sent to the Gentiles; see Acts 19:8, Acts 19:9.
Pure from blood, or pure from guilt, is commonly expressed by καθαρος; thus Heliodorus, lib. i. p. 49: Εις δευρο διετελεσα καθαραν εμαυτην απο σης ὁμιλιας φυλαττουσα, Until now I have lived, preserving myself pure: and Alciphron, lib. i. epist. 7, ad. fin.: Ουδε μιαναι λυθρῳ τας χειρας, ἁς ἡ θαλαττα εκ παιδος εις δευρο καθαρας αδικηματων εφυλαξε, Nor to stain with pollution the hands which a seafaring life has kept from a child until now pure from iniquity.

(3) And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook [his] raiment, and said unto them, Your (d) blood [be] upon your own heads; I [am] clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
(3) Although we have tried all possible means, and yet in vain, we must not stop our work, but forsake the rebellious, and go to those that are more obedient.
(d) This is a type of speech taken from the Hebrews, by which he means that the Jews are the cause of their own destruction, and as for him, that he is without fault in forsaking them and going to other nations.

And when they opposed themselves,.... To the truth, and contradicted themselves in many instances, and their own prophecies; or those books which they themselves allowed to be the oracles of God, and blasphemed both Christ, and the apostle, and the doctrine which he taught; and railed at him, and spoke evil of him, and used him in a very contumelious and reproachful manner, as they were used from contradicting to go to blaspheming; see Acts 13:45
he shook his raiment; his outer garment, and the dust off from it, as a testimony against them; see Matthew 10:14
and said unto them, your blood be upon your heads; meaning, that they were the authors of their own ruin and destruction; that they could not impute it to any other, when it came upon them; and that they were left inexcusable, and must bear their own iniquities, and the punishment of them: this clause is wanting in the Syriac version.
I am clean; meaning from their blood; see Acts 20:26. The apostle seems to allude to Ezekiel 33:4 signifying, that he had discharged his duty as a preacher, and so had delivered his own soul from their blood being required at his hands; and that it rested entirely on themselves, and they were answerable for all their impenitence, unbelief, and blasphemy:
from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles; in that city, and preach the Gospel to them, and no more enter into their synagogue, as it is very likely he afterwards never did; for though Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, was afterwards converted, yet his conversion seems to have been not in the synagogue, but in the house of Justus, which was hard by it. Compare with this Acts 13:46.

Your blood be upon your own heads, &c.--See Ezekiel 33:4, Ezekiel 33:9.
from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles--Compare Acts 13:46.

When they . . . blasphemed. Against Jesus Christ. The opposition became malignant.
He shook his raiment. See note on Acts 13:51.
Your blood be upon your own heads. "I have done my duty. The responsibility is now yours."

He shook his raiment - To signify he would from that time refrain from them: and to intimate, that God would soon shake them off as unworthy to be numbered among his people. I am pure - None can say this but he that has borne a full testimony against sin. From henceforth I will go to the Gentiles - But not to them altogether. He did not break off all intercourse with the Jews even at Corinth. Only he preached no more in their synagogue.