Acts 14:13 - Exposition

And for then, A.V.; whose temple was before the city for which was before their city, A.V. and T.R.; the multitudes for the people, A.V., as in Acts 14:12 . The priest of Jupiter . The words, ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς τοῦ διὸς τοῦ ὄντες κ . τ . λ ., may be construed in two ways—either as in the A.V., or the priest of the temple of Jupiter, etc., understanding, by a common ellipse, ἱεροῦ , or, ναοῦ , after διός , as in the Latin phrase, " Ubi ad Dianae veneris ;" "When you come to the temple of Diana," etc. But it is not a Greek phrase to speak of Jupiter being before the city, meaning the temple of Jupiter. Therefore the proper way of translating is to take the full phrase as being ὁ ἱερεὺς τοῦ διός ναοῦ or ἰεροῦ , the article τοῦ belonging to ναοῦ , and διός being, as in so many instances, without the article. The gates ; viz. of the city. The temple was just outside the gates; the lame man, it is likely, sat inside near the gates through which men were passing in and out. Paul and Barnabas would address the -people in the square or open space inside the gates. Seeing a stir at the gates, and hearing that it was the priest of Jupiter coming with oxen and garlands to sacrifice to them, they immediately ran forward to prevent it. The ox was the proper sacrifice for Jupiter.