Acts 16:20 kjv
And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
Acts 16:20 nkjv
And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, "These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city;
Acts 16:20 niv
They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar
Acts 16:20 esv
And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, "These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city.
Acts 16:20 nlt
"The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!" they shouted to the city officials.
Acts 16 20 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Matt 5:11-12 | "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account..." | Promise of blessing amidst false accusations for Christ. |
| Lk 23:2 | "...They began to accuse him, saying, 'We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.'" | False charges of sedition against Jesus. |
| Jn 15:20 | "Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you..." | Expectation of persecution for followers of Christ. |
| Acts 4:1-3 | "...as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead." | Apostolic preaching leading to annoyance and arrest. |
| Acts 6:11-13 | "Then they secretly instigated men who said, 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.'" | Fabricated charges of blasphemy against Stephen. |
| Acts 17:6 | "When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, 'These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also...'" | Similar accusation of disturbing civic order (Thessalonica). |
| Acts 19:23-27 | "...there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way... a silversmith named Demetrius... brought no little gain to the craftsmen... this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods." | Economic motivation behind opposition to the Gospel (Ephesus). |
| 2 Tim 3:12 | "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..." | Universal truth of persecution for living a godly life. |
| 1 Pet 4:12-16 | "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you... rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings..." | Expectation and endurance of suffering for being a Christian. |
| Rev 2:9 | "...I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." | Experience of slander from false accusers. |
| Psa 7:4 | "if I have repaid my friend with evil or plundered him who without cause was my foe," | Innocent suffering due to causeless opposition. |
| Psa 35:11 | "Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know." | False witnesses presenting charges. |
| Prov 28:1 | "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion." | Accusers are often driven by guilt or ulterior motives. |
| Isa 53:7 | "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth..." | Foreshadowing Jesus' silent suffering under false charges. |
| Jer 20:10 | "For I hear many whispering. 'Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!' Say all my close friends, watching for my fall..." | Prophetic suffering due to plots and false reports. |
| Dan 6:4-5 | "Then the high officials and the satraps sought to find a ground for complaint against Daniel... But they could find no ground for complaint or any fault..." | Search for valid charges against a righteous man. |
| Zech 8:17 | "do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord." | God's hatred for false accusations and malicious plotting. |
| Phil 1:7 | "It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel." | Paul's own experience of imprisonment for the gospel. |
| Phil 1:29 | "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake..." | The privilege of suffering for Christ's sake. |
| Rom 8:36 | "As it is written: 'For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.'" | Experience of ongoing persecution for faith. |
| Col 1:24 | "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church..." | Joy in suffering for the Church. |
Acts 16 verses
Acts 16 20 Meaning
Acts 16:20 records the accusation brought against Paul and Silas by the owners of the demon-possessed slave girl in Philippi. They brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates, claiming that "These men, being Jews, are throwing our city into confusion." The essence of the charge is that Paul and Silas, identified by their Jewish ethnicity, were disturbing the established civic order and harmony of the Roman colony of Philippi. This accusation was a strategic fabrication, masking the accusers' true grievance which was the financial loss they suffered due to the slave girl's deliverance from divination.
Acts 16 20 Context
Acts chapter 16 depicts Paul's second missionary journey, leading him to Philippi, a significant Roman colony in Macedonia. Upon arriving, Paul and his companions encounter a slave girl possessed by a spirit of divination (a "pythoness"), who brought much profit to her owners through fortune-telling. After days of harassment, Paul commands the spirit to come out of her in the name of Jesus Christ. Her immediate healing causes her owners to lose their source of income. This financial loss, rather than any genuine crime, infuriates them. As a result, they seize Paul and Silas and drag them to the marketplace before the city magistrates (strategoi), aiming to initiate legal proceedings against them based on false, manipulative charges that appealed to Roman xenophobia and their strict adherence to Roman laws.
Acts 16 20 Word analysis
- And brought: The Greek term prosagontes (from prosagō) signifies not merely 'bringing' but 'bringing to' or 'presenting formally' to someone in authority. It emphasizes that Paul and Silas were deliberately presented for judgment.
- them: Refers to Paul and Silas. They are the immediate focus of the accusers' intent.
- to the praetors: The Greek word strategos (plural strategoi) denotes chief magistrates, military commanders, or civil governors in Roman cities. In Philippi, as a Roman colony, these officials held significant administrative and judicial power, emphasizing the seriousness of the accusation made to high-ranking authorities.
- they said: The introduction of the accusers' direct statement.
- "These men: The Greek Houtoi hoi anthrōpoi ('These the men') carries a derogatory undertone from the accusers, intending to dehumanize and emphasize their perceived foreignness and trouble-making nature.
- being Jews: The Greek Ioudaioi hyparchontes. This phrase directly links Paul and Silas's identity to the accusation. It's a strategic appeal to anti-Jewish sentiment prevalent in the Roman Empire. Romans often viewed Jews with suspicion, considering their unique customs and monotheism as potentially subversive to Roman polytheism and imperial cult. The accusers exploit this prejudice to gain favor with the magistrates.
- are throwing into confusion: The Greek verb ektarassousin (from ektarassō) means "to disturb completely," "to throw into turmoil," or "to thoroughly agitate." It implies a severe disruption of civil peace and order, a serious charge in a Roman colony where social stability was paramount. This strong term reflects the accusers' attempt to paint Paul and Silas as dangerous agitators threatening the very fabric of Philippian society.
- our city: This highlights the collective sense of ownership and perceived threat. The accusers frame the issue not as a private dispute over income, but as a public crisis affecting the entire city and its Roman order.
- "And brought them to the praetors, they said": This group of words emphasizes the calculated and official nature of the accusation. The act of "bringing them" is deliberate, signaling that a formal legal complaint is being lodged before the city's highest authorities, aiming for a swift and severe legal response.
- "These men, being Jews, are throwing our city into confusion": This entire phrase encapsulates the core of the false accusation. It weaponizes the ethnicity of Paul and Silas, leverages existing societal prejudice against Jews, and fabricates a severe charge of civil unrest to secure the conviction of innocent men for personal financial gain. It cleverly shifts the motive from economic loss to perceived threat against Roman societal stability and values.
Acts 16 20 Bonus section
The charge of "throwing the city into confusion" was a severe one under Roman law, potentially categorized as crimen maiestatis (treason) or turbatio, a disruption of public order, which could lead to scourging, imprisonment, or worse. The accusers, in naming Paul and Silas specifically as "Jews," were not necessarily identifying their religion accurately for all members (Paul was a Roman citizen, a fact he had not yet disclosed), but using it as a derogatory ethnic slur designed to inflame Roman magistrates who valued order and Roman identity. Philippi, as a Roman colonia, had a particularly strong sense of Roman civic pride and strict adherence to Roman law, making this type of accusation potent. This calculated appeal to the magistrates' duty to maintain Roman customs and peace rather than investigate a private economic loss highlights the shrewdness and malice of those opposing the Gospel.
Acts 16 20 Commentary
Acts 16:20 reveals the strategic and manipulative nature of the accusations leveled against God's servants. The true grievance was economic loss, as the gospel of Christ delivered the slave girl from demonic control, thereby ending her owners' income stream. However, presenting this personal financial matter to Roman officials would not have held much weight. Therefore, the accusers shrewdly reframed their complaint, appealing to deep-seated Roman sensitivities: fear of social unrest (ektarassousin – "throwing into confusion") and xenophobia, specifically anti-Jewish prejudice (Ioudaioi – "being Jews"). They falsely asserted that Paul and Silas were subverting the traditional Roman order and introducing "customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice" (Acts 16:21). This illustrates a common pattern in the Book of Acts and throughout church history, where opponents of the Gospel use state power and pre-existing prejudices to suppress the spread of divine truth, especially when their worldly interests are threatened. This verse sets the stage for the illegal imprisonment and divine intervention that follows.