Acts 18:20

20 And [when] they asked [him] to stay for a longer time, he did not give his consent,

Acts 18:20 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 18:20

When they desired him to tarry longer time with them
Either Aquila and Priscilla, whom he left here, for here they were, as is certain from Ac 18:24,26
or rather the Jews with whom he reasoned, who might be desirous of further conference with him, upon the subject they had disputed about; either in order to gain more knowledge, or in hopes of baffling and confounding him:

he consented not;
for a reason afterwards given.

Acts 18:20 In-Context

18 So Paul, [after] remaining many days longer, said farewell to the brothers [and] sailed away to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved [his] head at Cenchrea, because he had [taken] a vow.

19 So they arrived at Ephesus, and those he left behind there, but he himself entered into the synagogue [and] discussed with the Jews.

20 And [when] they asked [him] to stay for a longer time, he did not give his consent,

21 but saying farewell and telling [them], "I will return to you again [if] God wills," he set sail from Ephesus.

22 And [when he] arrived at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, [and] went down to Antioch.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("asked")
• [b] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation