Acts 19:16

And the man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them With that power, more than natural, so often displayed by madmen.

and overcame them Here we have a singular variation from the texts of the oldest MSS. These read, both of them, a reading which seems to preserve for us the information that only twoof the seven sons were present on this occasion. This reading is not likely to have been substituted for the more simple one, but it is easy to see how the simpler pronoun would come in after the mention of the seven, and when there was in the story only this hint that five of them were not there. It is no objection to the acceptance of this old reading, that other words in the verse referring to these brethren are plural, and not dual. Plural verbs and adjectives are not unfrequently used of dual subjects. The verb is more closely translated in the Rev. Ver. mastered.

and prevailed, &c. He tare their clothes to shreds, and left marks of the fierce tearing on their bodies.