But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
Parallel translations
- WEB But the multitude of the city was divided. Part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
- KJV But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
- BSB The people of the city were divided. Some sided with the Jews, and others with the apostles.
- NASB But the people of the city were divided; and some sided with the Jews, while others, with the apostles.
- NLT But the people of the town were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The city split, some siding with the unbelieving Jews and some with the apostles. The gospel inevitably divides people in their response.
Overview
Jesus had said He came to bring division as people respond to Him (Luke 12:51), and that division now appears in Iconium. Luke calls Paul and Barnabas 'apostles' here, a term he uses for them as commissioned messengers of the church (Acts 13:2-3). The split sets the stage for the violent attempt that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Acts 28:24Some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.
- Acts 14:14But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes, and sprang into the multitude, crying out,
- Acts 19:9But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
- Acts 17:4–5Some of them were persuaded, and joined Paul and Silas, of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and not a few of the chief women.
- Luke 11:21–23“When the strong man, fully armed, guards his own dwelling, his goods are safe.
- Acts 13:2As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.”
- Luke 12:51–53Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.
- Matt 10:34–36“Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword.
- Mic 7:6For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
- Luke 2:34and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against.
- John 7:43So there arose a division in the multitude because of him.
- 1 Cor 9:5Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 14:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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