Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 28:6

οἱ δὲ προσεδόκων αὐτὸν μέλλειν πίμπρασθαι, but they expected that he would have swollen. Such being the usual effect of the viper’s bite, and making itself apparent in a very short time.

The verb πίμπρημι in classical Greek means ‘to burn,’ ‘to burn up,’ and in the passive ‘to be inflamed,’ but in the LXX. we have the verb used in the sense of ‘to swell’ in Numbers 5:21; Numbers 5:23; Numbers 5:27, καὶ πρηθήσεται τὴν κοιλίαν.

ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ αὐτῶν προσδοκώντων, but when they had been long in expectation. Keeping the same rendering for προσδοκέω in both places in the verse. The people had seen cases of viper-bite before, and they had no doubt about what was going to happen.

καὶ θεωρούντων μηδὲν ἄτοπον εἰς αὐτὸν γινόμενον, and beheld nothing amiss come to him. For the word cf. Luke 23:41; Acts 25:5. It can be applied to anything abnormal whether it be a breach of the law or a change of bodily condition. For the latter sense, see Joseph. Ant. XI. 5. 2 ὅπως εὐχὰς ποιήσωνται τοῦ μηδὲν κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν παθεῖν ἄτοπον.

μεταβαλλόμενοι, changing their minds. For the word cf. Test. xii. Patr. Daniel 4, καὶ ἐάν τις ἐπαινῇ ὑμᾶς ὡς ἁγαθοὺς μὴ ἐπαίρεσθε μηδὲ μεταβάλλεσθε. The previous clause speaks of anger, and the last verb indicates the change to the contrary.

ἔλεγον αὐτὸν εἶναι θεόν, they said that he was a god. Compare the conduct of the Lycaonians in Lystra (Acts 14:11 seqq.), whose behaviour afterwards shews that the opinion quickly formed was unstable, and liable to change as suddenly as it came.

Chrysostom’s comment here is: ἄρα καὶ τὸν περὶ προνοίας λόγον εἶχον καὶ πολλῷ τῶν φιλοσόφων οὗτοι οἱ βάρβαροι φιλοσοφώτεροι ἐτύγχανον. αὐτοὶ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἁφίασι προνοίας�· οἱ δὲ πανταχοῦ νομίζουσι παρεῖναι τὸν θεόν.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 28:6

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