Acts 14:11

11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycao'nian, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!"

Acts 14:11 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 14:11

And when the people saw what Paul had done
In curing the lame man in so marvellous a manner, and concluding it to be a divine work, and what a mere creature could never perform:

they lift up their voices;
not in indignation and wrath, but as persons astonished:

saying in the speech of Lycaonia;
by which it should seem that Lystra was a city of Lycaonia, since the Lycaonian language was spoken in it; the Arabic version reads, "in their own tongue"; and the Syriac version, "in the dialect of the country"; very likely a dialect of the Greek tongue;

the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men;
they had a notion of deity, though a very wrong one; they thought there were more gods than one, and they imagined heaven to be the habitation of the gods; and that they sometimes descended on earth in human shape, as they supposed they now did.

Acts 14:11 In-Context

9 He listened to Paul speaking; and Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be made well,

10 said in a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet." And he sprang up and walked.

11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycao'nian, "The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!"

12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, because he was the chief speaker, they called Hermes.

13 And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the people.