Acts 13:41

Acts 13:41.Habakkuk 1:5, but here slightly different from the Hebrew “behold, ye among the nations,” in LXX through the possible mistake of reading the Hebrew noun as if = deceitful ones (with the idea perhaps of impudence, shamelessness). On βλέπ. μὴ ἐπέλ. see Burton, pp. 85, 89; Viteau, p. 83 (1893). ἀφανίσθητε : added by LXX to the “wonder marvellously” of Heb. and LXX: “perish,” “vanish away,” R.V. margin, an idea involved in Heb. though not expressed: verb frequent in LXX, in N.T. three times, in Matthew 6, and nowhere else except James 4:14, see Mayor's note, in loco. The Apostle here transfers the prophecies of the temporal judgments following on the Chaldean invasion to the judgment of the nation by the Romans, or to the punishment which would fall upon the Jews by the election of the Gentiles into their place. Perhaps the latter is more probable before his present audience. The πᾶς ὁ πιστ. naturally leads him to the warning for those who disbelieved (ἔργον ᾧ οὐ μὴ πιστεύσητε). It is tempting to regard the words with Ramsay (Expositor, December, 1898), as insisting upon the marvellous and mysterious nature of God's action in the sending forth of His Son, but the context (cf. ἐπέλθῃ) here, and the O.T. prophecy, both point to the imminence of judgment and penalty. ἐργάζομαι : the present (so in LXX), because the result was so certain that it was regarded as actually in process. With true rhetorical force St. Paul concludes his speech, as at Athens, by an appeal to awaken all consciences, cf. St. Peter's closing words, Acts 2:36; Acts 3:26 possibly, as at the close perhaps of St. Stephen's speech, signs of impatience had begun to manifest themselves in his audience (Plumptre).