Acts 16:17

κατακολουθήσασα, but if we follow R.V. the present participle denotes that she continuously followed after (κατά), and kept crying (ἔκραζε). The verb is only used by St. Luke in N.T., cf. Luke 23:35; in LXX, Jeremiah 17:16, Dan., LXX, Acts 9:10; Esther 7:1; Esther 7:1; Judges 11:6 1Ma 6:23, but not in same literal sense as here; used by Polyb., Plut., Jos. οὗτοι : placed emphatically first (see also Friedrich, pp. 10, 89). If we turn to the Gospel narratives of those possessed with evil spirits, as affording an analogy to the narrative here, we recall how Jesus had found recognition, cf. Mark 1:24; Mark 3:11; Luke 4:41 (where the same verb, κράζω, is used of the ἀκάθαρτα πνεύματα καὶ δαιμόνια). τοῦ Θ. τοῦ ὑψ.: similar title used by the demoniacs in Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28; see Plumptre's note on former passage. Both Zeller and Friedrich note that Luke alone employs ὁ ὑψ. of God without any word in apposition, Luke 1:32; Luke 1:35; Luke 1:76; Luke 6:35; Acts 7:48, and that we have the title with τοῦ Θεοῦ, both in his Gospel and Acts. (Hebrews 7:1, probably from Genesis 14:18.) ἡμῖν ὑμῖν very strongly supported, see critical note. But ἡμῖν might easily have been altered into ὑμῖν, as the former would appear to be an unfitting expression for the evil spirit: but ἡμῖν may point to that disturbed and divided consciousness which seems to have been so characteristic of the possessed (Edersheim); at one time the girl was overmastered by the evil spirit who was her real Κύριος, at another she felt a longing for deliverance from her bondage, and in ἡμῖν she associates herself with those around her who felt a similar longing for some way of salvation, for we must by no means regard her as a mere impostor (Ramsay).