Acts 14:2

οἱ δὲ�. Render, but the Jews that were disobedient. The same verb is found John 3:36, where the rendering should be ‘he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life.’ The word is stronger than ‘unbelieving,’ it expresses unbelief breaking forth into rebellion, and so exactly describes the character of these Jews who were persecuting Paul and Barnabas. It is noteworthy throughout the Acts that persecution seems nearly in every case to have originated with the Jews.

Cf. for the verb Bar 1:19, ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύης ἤμεθα�, καὶ ἐσχεδιάζομεν πρὸς τὸ μὴ�.

ἐκάκωσαν τὰς ψυχάς, made their minds evil affected. The verb is not frequently found in this sense. The precise phrase κακῶσαι τὰς ψυχάς (ψυχήν) is found twice in LXX. (Numbers 29:7; Numbers 30:14), but there it is of affliction put on a person’s own soul by a fast or a vow. It is also used (Acts 12:1) to describe the harm done to the Church by Herod Agrippa. Here it implies not only an ill disposition aroused towards the brethren, but also that injury was done to the minds in which such feeling was stirred up.