Actes 17:16

16 Comme Paul les attendait à Athènes, il sentait au dedans de lui son esprit s'irriter, à la vue de cette ville pleine d'idoles.

Actes 17:16 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 17:16

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens.
&c.] That is, for Silas and Timotheus:

his spirit was stirred in him;
not only his soul was troubled and his heart was grieved, but he was exasperated and provoked to the last degree: he was in a paroxysm; his heart was hot within him; he had a burning fire in his bones, and was weary with forbearing, and could not stay; his zeal wanted vent, and he gave it:

when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry;
or "full of idols", as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it. So Cicero says ^F24 that Athens was full of temples; and Xenophon ^F25 observes that they had double the feasts of other people; and Pausanias ^F26 affirms, that the Athenians far exceeded others in the worship of the gods, and care about religion; and he relates, that they had an altar for Mercy, another for Shame, another for Fame, and another for Desire, and expressed more religion to the gods than others did: they had an altar dedicated to twelve gods ^F1; and because they would be sure of all, they erected one to an unknown god; in short, they had so many of them, that one ^F2 jestingly said to them, our country is so full of deities, that one may more easily find a god than a man: so that with all their learning and wisdom they knew not God, ( 1 Corinthians 1:21 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 De responsis Aruspicum.
F25 De Athen. Polit.
F26 Attica, p. 29, 42.
F1 Thucydides Bell. Peloponness. l. 6.
F2 Petronius.

Actes 17:16 In-Context

14 Alors les frères firent aussitôt partir Paul du côté de la mer; Silas et Timothée restèrent à Bérée.

15 Ceux qui accompagnaient Paul le conduisirent jusqu'à Athènes. Puis ils s'en retournèrent, chargés de transmettre à Silas et à Timothée l'ordre de le rejoindre au plus tôt.

16 Comme Paul les attendait à Athènes, il sentait au dedans de lui son esprit s'irriter, à la vue de cette ville pleine d'idoles.

17 Il s'entretenait donc dans la synagogue avec les Juifs et les hommes craignant Dieu, et sur la place publique chaque jour avec ceux qu'il rencontrait.

18 Quelques philosophes épicuriens et stoïciens se mirent à parler avec lui. Et les uns disaient: Que veut dire ce discoureur? D'autres, l'entendant annoncer Jésus et la résurrection, disaient: Il semble qu'il annonce des divinités étrangères.