Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Acts 3:10

ἐπεγίνωσκόν τε : “took knowledge of him” or perhaps better still “recognised”. The word is so used of recognising any one by sight, hearing, or certain signs, to perceive who a person is (Grimm), cf., e.g., Luke 24:16; Luke 24:31; Matthew 14:35; Mark 6:54. ὁ … καθήμενος : imperfect, may refer to the customary action of the man: or may be equivalent here to an imperfect, a force of the imperfect usual in similar cases when reference is made to a time before the actual time of recognition, Blass, Grammatik des N. G., p. 188. ἐπὶ : for the local dative cf. Acts 5:9; Matthew 24:33; Mark 13:29; John 5:2; Revelation 9:14. θάμβους, cf. Luke 4:36; Luke 5:9. A word peculiar to St. Luke in the N.T. (so St. Luke alone uses ἔκθαμβος, Acts 3:11); used from Homer downwards, of amazement allied to terror or awe, cf. LXX, Ezekiel 7:18; Song of Solomon 3:8; Song of Solomon 6:3 (4), 9 (10). ἐκστάσεως : for the word in a similar sense, Mark 5:42; Mark 16:8; Luke 5:26. Its use in ordinary Greek expresses rather distraction or disturbance of mind caused by a shock. The word is very common both in Hippocrates and Aretaeus. In the LXX it is employed in various senses, cf. Deuteronomy 28:28, ἐκστάσει διανοίας; elsewhere it is used of agitation, trouble, 2 Chronicles 29:8, and most frequently of terror, fear, 1 Samuel 11:7; Ezekiel 26:16. See further on. Here the word expresses more than simple astonishment as its collocation with θάμβος shows (Wendt, in loco), rather “bewilderment,” cf. Mark 5:42. See on Acts 2:43 for this characteristic of St. Luke. But there is no occasion to conclude with Weiss that these strong expressions as to the effect of the miracle show that it must have been the first which the disciples performed. It was the unique nature of the miracle which affected the beholders so powerfully.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Acts 3:10

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