Acts 20:20

How that I shrank not (w ouden upesteilamen). Still indirect discourse (question) after epistasqe (ye know) with w like pw in verse Acts 18 . First aorist middle of upostellw, old verb to draw under or back. It was so used of drawing back or down sails on a ship and, as Paul had so recently been on the sea, that may be the metaphor here. But it is not necessarily so as the direct middle here makes good sense and is frequent, to withdraw oneself, to cower, to shrink, to conceal, to dissemble as in Habakkuk 2:4 ( Hebrews 10:38 ). Demosthenes so used it to shrink from declaring out of fear for others. This open candour of Paul is supported by his Epistles ( 1 Thessalonians 2:4 1 Thessalonians 2:11 ; 2 Corinthians 4:2 ; Galatians 1:10 ). From declaring unto you (tou mh anaggeilai umin). Ablative case of the articular first aorist active infinitive of anaggellw with the redundant negative after verbs of hindering, etc. (Robertson, Grammar, p. 1094). Anything that was profitable (twn sumperontwn). Partitive genitive after ouden of the articular present active participle of sumperw, to bear together, be profitable. Publicly (dhmosiai, adverb) and from house to house (kai kat oikou). By (according to) houses. It is worth noting that this greatest of preachers preached from house to house and did not make his visits merely social calls. He was doing kingdom business all the while as in the house of Aquila and Priscilla ( 1 Corinthians 16:19 ).