Acts 17:16
New International Version
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

New Living Translation
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.

English Standard Version
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

Berean Standard Bible
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.

Berean Literal Bible
Now of Paul in Athens waiting for them, his spirit was provoked in him, seeing the city to be utterly idolatrous.

King James Bible
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

New King James Version
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

New American Standard Bible
Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he observed that the city was full of idols.

NASB 1995
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

NASB 1977
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was beholding the city full of idols.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.

Amplified Bible
Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was greatly angered when he saw that the city was full of idols.

Christian Standard Bible
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was troubled within him when he saw that the city was full of idols.

American Standard Version
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he beheld the city full of idols.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But while Paulus remained in Athens, he was provoked in his spirit when he saw that the whole city was full of idols.

Contemporary English Version
While Paul was waiting in Athens, he was upset to see all the idols in the city.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Now whilst Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him, seeing the city wholly given to idolatry.

English Revised Version
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him, as he beheld the city full of idols.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy in Athens, he saw that the city had statues of false gods everywhere. This upset him.

Good News Translation
While Paul was waiting in Athens for Silas and Timothy, he was greatly upset when he noticed how full of idols the city was.

International Standard Version
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was deeply disturbed to see the city full of idols.

Literal Standard Version
and Paul waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, beholding the city wholly given to idolatry,

Majority Standard Bible
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols.

New American Bible
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he grew exasperated at the sight of the city full of idols.

NET Bible
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was greatly upset because he saw the city was full of idols.

New Revised Standard Version
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols.

New Heart English Bible
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now, while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Weymouth New Testament
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred within him when he noticed that the city was full of idols.

World English Bible
Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.

Young's Literal Translation
and Paul waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, beholding the city wholly given to idolatry,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Paul in Athens
15Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible. 16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply disturbed in his spirit to see that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and in the marketplace with those he met each day.…

Cross References
Acts 17:15
Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

Acts 17:21
Now all the Athenians and foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing more than hearing and articulating new ideas.

Acts 18:1
After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

Acts 20:22
And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.

1 Thessalonians 3:1
So when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left on our own in Athens.


Treasury of Scripture

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.

Cir.

Exodus 32:19,20
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount…

Numbers 25:6-11
And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation…

1 Kings 19:10,14
And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away…

wholly given to idolatry.

Acts 17:23
For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

Jump to Previous
Athens Beheld Beholding City Distressed Excited Full Gods Greatly Idolatry Idols Images Noticed Observing Painfully Paul Provoked Spirit Stirred Waited Waiting Wholly Within
Jump to Next
Athens Beheld Beholding City Distressed Excited Full Gods Greatly Idolatry Idols Images Noticed Observing Painfully Paul Provoked Spirit Stirred Waited Waiting Wholly Within
Acts 17
1. Paul preaches at Thessalonica, where some believe,
5. and others persecute him.
10. He is sent to Berea, and preaches there.
13. Being persecuted by Jews from Thessalonica,
16. he comes to Athens, and disputes and preaches the living God, to them unknown;
32. whereby, though some mock, many are converted unto Christ.














(16) His spirit was stirred in him.--The verb is the root of the noun from which we get our "paroxysm," and which is translated by "sharp contention" in Acts 15:39. Athens, glorying now, as it had done in the days of Sophocles (?dip. Col. 1008), in its devotion to the gods, presented to him, even after seeing Tarsus and Antioch, a new aspect. The city was "full of idols;" Hermes-busts at every corner, statues and altars in the atrium or court-yard of every house, temples and porticos and colonnades, all presenting what was to him the same repulsive spectacle. He looked on the Theseus and the Ilissus, and the friezes of the Centaurs and Lapithae on the Parthenon, as we look on them in our museums, but any sense of art-beauty which he may have had (and it was probably, in any case, but weak) was over-powered by his horror that men should bow down and worship what their own hands had made. The beauty of form which we admire in the Apollo or the Aphrodite, the Mercury or the Faun, would be to him, in its unveiled nakedness, a thing to shudder at. He knew too well to what that love of sensuous beauty had led in Greek and Roman life (Romans 1:24-27), when it had thrown aside what, to a Jew, were not only the natural instincts of purity, but the sanctions of a divine command (Genesis 9:22).

Verse 16. - Provoked within for stirred in, A.V. (παρωξύνετο: see Acts 15:29, note); as he beheld for when he saw, A.V.; full of idols for wholly given to idolatry, A.V. The Greek κατείδωλος occurs only here, either in the New Testament or elsewhere. But the analogy of ether words similarly compounded fixes the meaning "full of idols" - a description fully borne out by Pausanias and Xenophon and others (Steph., 'Thesaur.;' Meyer, etc.).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[While]
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

Paul
Παύλου (Paulou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3972: Paul, Paulus. Of Latin origin; Paulus, the name of a Roman and of an apostle.

was waiting for
ἐκδεχομένου (ekdechomenou)
Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 1551: To wait for, expect. From ek and dechomai; to accept from some source, i.e. to await.

them
αὐτοὺς (autous)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

in
Ἐν (En)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

Athens,
Ἀθήναις (Athēnais)
Noun - Dative Feminine Plural
Strong's 116: Athens, the intellectual capital of Greece. Plural of Athene; Athenoe, the capitol of Greece.

he was deeply disturbed
παρωξύνετο (parōxyneto)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3947: To arouse anger, provoke, irritate. From para and a derivative of oxus; to sharpen alongside, i.e. to exasperate.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

his
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

spirit
πνεῦμα (pneuma)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4151: Wind, breath, spirit.

to see that
θεωροῦντος (theōrountos)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2334: From a derivative of theaomai; to be a spectator of, i.e. Discern, (experience) or intensively (acknowledge).

the
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

city
πόλιν (polin)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4172: A city, the inhabitants of a city. Probably from the same as polemos, or perhaps from polus; a town.

was
οὖσαν (ousan)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

full of idols.
κατείδωλον (kateidōlon)
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2712: Full of images of idols, grossly idolatrous. From kata and eidolon; utterly idolatrous.


Links
Acts 17:16 NIV
Acts 17:16 NLT
Acts 17:16 ESV
Acts 17:16 NASB
Acts 17:16 KJV

Acts 17:16 BibleApps.com
Acts 17:16 Biblia Paralela
Acts 17:16 Chinese Bible
Acts 17:16 French Bible
Acts 17:16 Catholic Bible

NT Apostles: Acts 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at (Acts of the Apostles Ac)
Acts 17:15
Top of Page
Top of Page