Acts 14:20

Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him - `having surrounded or encircled him.' So his labours here had not been in vain: "disciples," we see, had been gained, who now rallied around the bleeding body; and we shall afterward see ground to conclude that among these must have been that most valued of all his future companions and fellow-labourers-TIMOTHEUS (see the notes at Acts 16:1).

He rose up. It is just possible that this recovery was natural; the insensibility occasioned by such treatment as he had received, sometimes passing away of itself, and leaving the patient less hurt than appears. But certainly the impression naturally left on the mind by the words is, that the restoration was miraculous; and so the best interpreters understand the words. This is confirmed by what follows.

And came into the city -- out of which he had been dragged as a corpse. Noble intrepidity! Yet he did not again venture to present himself as a preacher after such treatment.

And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe (see the note at ) - a journey for which he would hardly have been fit if his recovery had been quite natural.

Retracing their Steps, They Return to Antioch, whence They Started, and Report their Oroceedings (14:21-28)