Acts 12:22

22 The people kept shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!"

Acts 12:22 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 12:22

And the people gave a shout
At the end of the oration; these were flatterers, as Josephus says in the place before referred to, who cried out one from another, saluting him as God; saying, be merciful to us, hitherto we have revered thee as a man, henceforward we confess thee somewhat more excellent than mortal nature: and so it follows here,

saying it is the voice of a God, and not of a man;
the Vulgate Latin version reads, "the voices of God and not men"; and the Ethiopic version, "the city shouted in, or with the voice of God", with the voice of man; as if this referred to the acclamation of the people, and not the speech of the king; very wrongly.

Acts 12:22 In-Context

20 Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king's country for food.

21 On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them.

22 The people kept shouting, "The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!"

23 And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

24 But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents.