and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men, Jews as they are, are causing our city trouble,
Parallel translations
- WEB When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city,
- KJV And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
- BSB They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil
- NKJV And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city;
- NLT “The whole city is in an uproar because of these Jews!” they shouted to the city officials.
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
They accused Paul and Silas of being Jews who were stirring up trouble in the city.
Overview
The real grievance was lost profit, but the charge was dressed up as a threat to public order, with an appeal to anti-Jewish prejudice. False accusation cloaking selfish motives recurs throughout the persecution of God's people. The pattern recalls the unjust trial of Jesus Himself, whose servants are called to share in His sufferings.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jas 4:4You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
- Rom 12:2Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
- John 15:18–20If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.
- Acts 28:22But we desire to hear from you what you think. For, as concerning this sect, it is known to us that everywhere it is spoken against.”
- 1 Kgs 18:17–18When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
- Acts 18:2He found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, who had recently come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome. He came to them,
- Ezra 4:12–15Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations.
- Matt 2:3When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
- Acts 19:34But when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice for a time of about two hours cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
- Esth 3:8–9Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different than other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
- Acts 17:6–8When they didn’t find them, they dragged Jason and certain brothers before the rulers of the city, crying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here also,
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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 16:20 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.