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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Acts 17:21

Acts 17:21. And the strangers which were there. Although the ancient glory which the schools of Athens enjoyed was a good deal dimmed at this particular time, still the city was the resort of numbers of young Italians and others, for the purposes of education and study.

Spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Bengel paraphrases thus: ‘New things were ever becoming stale, and newer things were sought for.' Alford paraphrases the emphatic Greek καινότερον by ‘the very latest news.' Demosthenes rebukes this insatiable craving of the Athenians after news in the following terms: ‘Tell me whether going up and down the market-place, asking each other, “Is there any news?” is the business of your life.'

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See also Acts 17:21 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Acts 17:21. _ALL THE ATHENIANS AND STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE_] As Athens was renovated for its wisdom and learning, it became a place of public resort for philosophers and students from differ...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    FOR ALL THE ATHENIANS - This was their general character. AND STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE - Athens was greatly distinguished for the celebrity of its schools of philosophy. It was at that time at the h...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 17 _ 1. The Gospel in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1)._ 2. The Gospel in Beroea (Acts 17:10). 3. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:15). Three cities in which the Gospel is next preached are before us in thi...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    PAUL AT ATHENS. Athens was at this time no longer the intellectual centre of the world, nor the best of the leading schools of philosophy; but the fame of the city drew many to it, and a visit to Athe...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    When Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was deeply vexed as he saw the whole city full of idols. He debated with the Jews and the worshippers in the synagogue and every day he talked in t...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    IN THESSALONICA (Acts 17:1-9)...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    STRANGERS. See verses: Acts 17:17; Acts 17:18; Acts 17:20. WERE THERE. were dwelling or sojourning. Greek. _epi-demeo._ Only here and Acts 2:10.

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    This verse is a parenthesis explanatory of what has gone before. The audience had been struck with the strange teaching, and that it was strange was enough. Novelty was their life's pursuit. So withou...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    PAUL, PROVOKED BY THE PREVALENCE OF IDOLATRY AT ATHENS, FIRST ADDRESSES THE JEWS AND THEN THE GENTILES. SOME OF THE PHILOSOPHERS QUESTION HIM ON HIS TEACHING, AND BRING HIM TO THE AREOPAGUS THAT THEY...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    Ἢ for καὶ before ἈΚΟΎΕΙΝ with אABD. _Vulg_. ‘aut.’ 21. This verse is a parenthesis explanatory of what has gone before. The audience had been struck with the strange teaching, and that it was strange...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _AN ALTAR TO AN UNKNOWN GOD ACTS 17:16-23:_ While Paul waited for his co-workers his spirit was stirred by all the idolatry in Athens. He saw a city "full of idols." Paul had discussions, (1) in the S...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΈΠΙΔΗΜΟΫ́ΝΤΕΣ _praes. act. part. от_ ΈΠΙΔΗΜΈΩ (G1927) жить в качестве иностранца. Part, в роли _subst._ ΗΎΚΑΊΡΟΥΝ _impf. ind. act. от_ ΕΎΚΑΙΡΈΩ (G2119) иметь время, располагать свободным временем ил...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    _ACTS 17:21_. (_FOR ALL THE ATHENIANS AND STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE,_ &C.)— _Who sojourn there._ It is well known that the young nobility and gentry of Italy, and most of the neighbouring countries,...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    IN ATHENS. Acts 17:14 b - Acts 17:34. a. The brethren from Berea go with Paul as far as Athens and take back a command for the coming of Silas and Timothy. Acts 17:14 b -...

  • Combined Bible Commentary

    See notes on verse 19...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) FOR ALL THE ATHENIANS AND STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE SPENT TH...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    19 The hill called the Areopagus (Latin, Mars' Hill), just a few steps above the Market Place, was a most fitting forum for the folly of God to defeat the wisdom of the world. At Rome Paul's weakness...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    ATHENS. After leaving Berœa, St. Paul entered the Roman province of Achaia, which was at this time a senatorian province, governed by a proconsul, and of which the capital was Corinth. He first visite...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY (CONTINUED) 1-15. Thessalonica and Berœa. 1. Amphipolis] 32 m. W. of Philippi. APOLLONIA] 30 m. W. of Amphipolis. THESSALONICA] now Salonika, was the capital of the provin...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOOD NEWS FOR EVERYONE ACTS _MARION ADAMS_ CHAPTER 17 PAUL AND SILAS GO TO THESSALONICA, 17:1-4 V1 Paul and Silas travelled through Amphipolis and Apollonia. They came to Thessalonica. There was...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    FOR ALL THE ATHENIANS AND STRANGERS. — The restless inquisitiveness of the Athenian character had been all along proverbial. In words which St. Luke almost reproduces, Demosthenes (_Philipp._ i., p. 4...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 12 ST. PAUL IN MACEDONIA. Acts 16:29; Acts 17:1; Acts 17:10 TROAS was at this time the termination of St. Paul's Asiatic travels. He had passed diagonally right through Asia Minor, followin...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 12 ST. PAUL IN MACEDONIA. Acts 16:29; Acts 17:1; Acts 17:10 TROAS was at this time the termination of St. Paul's Asiatic travels. He had passed diagonally right through Asia Minor, followin...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    Ἀθην. δὲ πάντες : “now all Athenians,” without any article, a characteristic of the whole people, _cf._ Acts 27:4, but see Ramsay, _Expositor_, October, 1895, p. 274, and Blass, _Gram._, p. 157. ἐπιδη...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    STIRRED BY IDOLATRY Acts 17:13 From the first, the gospel was baptized in the fire of persecution. How unutterable the loneliness and sorrow of the Apostle as he reached Athens! Did doubt ever enter...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    At Thessalonica and Berea the apostle visited the synagogues, and again in each case persecution arose from the Jews. A sentence which fell from the lips of the leader of the mob shows with what rapid...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    Paul and the Athenian Philosophers While he waited, Paul apparently toured the city and discovered it was totally given over to idolatry. This provoked, or one might say angered, him. He went to the s...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (11) (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) (11) The wisdom of man is vanity....

  • Godbey's Commentary on the New Testament

    PAUL AT ATHENS 16-33. While Timothy and Silas prosecute the work in the upper country, Paul and Luke spend the time at Athens, the world's grand emporium of science, literature, philosophy, and idolat...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. (17) Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout p...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    We now enter on the missionary journeys, as they are called, of the apostle Paul. The work, under the Spirit, opens to the glory of the Lord. Not merely are Gentiles met in grace and brought into the...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    In the last case it was the power exercised by the enemy over the passions of the Gentiles that caused the persecution of the apostles: at Thessalonica we again find the old and universal enmity of th...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    FOR ALL THE ATHENIANS,.... The natives of Athens, who were born and lived there, and were inhabitants of the city, and free of it: AND STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE; who came there from several parts of...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) Ver. 21. _For all the Athenians, &c._] The self-same truth is t...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _And_ The crowd increasing to a greater number than could conveniently hear him, in the place where they then were; _they took and brought him unto Areopagus_ Or, _the hill of Mars_, dedicated to Mars...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    (FOR ALL THE ATHENIANS AND STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE SPENT THEIR TIME IN NOTHING ELSE BUT EITHER TO TELL OR TO HEAR SOME NEW THING.) The solicitude of the Berean disciples would not permit them to le...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    PAUL IN ATHENS. The arrival and the first discussions:...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    From Philippi Paul and his company travelled westward in Greece to Thessalonica (also in Macedonia). A Jewish synagogue being there, they attended this for three sabbath days, reasoning with the Jews...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    FOR ALL THE ATHENIANS AND THE FOREIGNERS WHO WERE THERE SPENT THEIR TIME IN NOTHING ELSE BUT EITHER TO TELL OR TO HEAR SOME NEW THING. 1. Luke tells us the many Athenians were "babblers" (seed picker...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but e...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    16-21 Athens was then famed for polite learning, philosophy, and the fine arts; but none are more childish and superstitious, more impious, or more credulous, than some persons, deemed eminent for le...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    STRANGERS WHICH WERE THERE; which must needs have be a considerable number, Athens being then a famous haven town and university; and these strangers might easily take this itch after news from the na...

  • NT Verse References in the Ante-Nicene Fathers

    Tertullian A Treatise on the Soul city,[22] Acts of Saint Philip the Apostle When He Went to Upper Hellas And having done so, they came together to the same place, and say to Philip: We have doctri...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Acts 17:21 For G1161 all G3956 Athenians G117 and G2532 foreigners G3581 who G3588 there G1927 (G5723) time...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘(Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.)' The enquiry was not antagonistic. Indeed the lives of thes...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    EFFECTIVE MINISTRY IN ATHENS (17:15-34). His Berean guides saw Paul safely to Athens. This had not been where he was originally aiming for. After Thessalonica his intention had probably been to procee...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    SPENT THEIR TIME (ηυκαιρουν). Imperfect active of ευκαιρεω. A late word to have opportunity (ευ, καιρος) from Polybius on. In the N.T. only here and Mark 6:31. They had time for,.etc. This verse is...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Founding of church at Thessalonica and the Jewish opposition. Paul and Silas at Berea. Paul at Athens and the sermon from Mars' hill. CHARACTERS: Christ, Paul, Silas, Jason, Caesar, philoso...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Acts 17:1. _When they had passed through Amphipolis._ Boiste adds the Roman name _Emboli._ It was built by Simon, the Athenian commander. It stood on an island formed in the river Strymon, and was cal...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    SO THEY TOOK PAUL. _Areopagus_ was the name of both the hill and the group which met there. [Mars-hill is a Latin name applied to it.] This group compared to our Supreme Court, Remember that Athens wa...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill._ NOVELTY ATTRACTIVE Yes, the people gathered in crowds round the statue, and looked at it again and again. It was not the finest work of art in the city,...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athena _ PAUL AT ATHENS I. The place which the apostle visited. Athens. II. The feelings of which he was the subject. Not of admiration at the masterp...

  • The children's great texts of the Bible by James Hastings

    SOMETHING NEW Now all the Athenians and the strangers sojourning: there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Acts 17:21. If I showed you a map of Europe I...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL REMARKS_ Acts 17:16. ATHENS.—Described by Milton (_Paradise Regained_, Acts 4:20) as “the eye of Greece,” and “the mother of arts and eloquence.” The capital of Attica was situated about fiv...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ACTS 17:1 AMPHIPOLIS. This was the ancient capital of that division of Macedonia (Macedonia Prima); see Acts 16:12, note. It was situated on the Via Egnatia, thirty-four miles southwest f...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews (Acts 17:1): Now Luke passes that off in one verse. From Philippi to Amph...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Timothy 5:13; 2 Thessalonians 3:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:12; 2 Timothy 2:16;...

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    All the Athenians. No article. Lit., "Athenians, all of them." The Athenian people collectively. Strangers which were there [ο ι ε π ι δ η μ ο υ ν τ ε ς ξ ε ν ο ι]. Rev., more correctly, the stranger...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    And the strangers sojourning there — And catching the distemper of them. Some new thing — The Greek word signifies some newer thing. New things quickly grew cheap, and they wanted those that were newe...

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Old Testament