Acts 26:14

λέγουσαν πρός με with אABCI omitting καὶ λέγουσαν afterwards. The Vulg. has only ‘loquentem mini.’

14. ἤκουσα φωνὴν λέγουσαν πρός, I heard a voice saying unto me. Saul alone gathered the import of what was said. His companions merely heard the sound, but nothing of the words. Cf. Daniel 10:7.

τῇ Ἑβραΐδι διαλέτῳ, in the Hebrew language. And this is represented in the proper name, which is not Σαῦλος as usual, but Σαούλ, a transliteration of the Hebrew form.

σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίξειν, it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks (lit. the goads). This is the only place where the oldest MSS. give these words. See note on Acts 9:5. The figure is from an ox, being driven on in his work. When restive or lazy, the driver pricks him, and in ignorance of the consequences, he kicks back, and so gets another wound. The words would imply that God had been guiding Saul towards the true light for some time before, and that this zeal for persecution was a resistance offered to the divine urging. It is not unusual for men who are moved to break away from old traditions at such times, by outward acts, to manifest even more zeal than before for their old opinions, as if in fear lest they should be thought to be falling away. This may have been Saul’s case, his kicking against the goads. The figure is very common in classical literature. Cf. Aesch. Prom. 323; Eur. Bacchæ 791.