And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

And said. Henceforward Barnabas sinks into the background, and Paul is the great figure on the historic canvass. His whole soul, now drawn out as never before, shoots, by the lightning-gaze of his eye, through the dark and tortuous spirit of the sorcerer. What a picture!

O full of all subtilty and all mischief, [ radiourgias (G4468)]. The word signifies 'readiness for anything,' knavish dexterity.

Child, [ huie (G5207)] ('son') of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness. These words were not (as Chrysostom well says) words of passion; for immediately before uttering them it is said he was "filled with the Holy Spirit."

Wilt, thou not cease to pervert the right (or straight) ways of the Lord? - so called in contrast with his own, which were both perverse and perverting, and pointing to his having up to that hour made a trade of leading his fellow-creatures astray.

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