Acts 14:11

11 (14-10) And when the multitudes had seen what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice in the Lycaonian tongue, saying: The gods are 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 (14-8) This same heard Paul speaking. Who looking upon him and seeing that he had faith to be healed,

10 (14-9) Said with a loud voice: Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped up and walked.

11 (14-10) And when the multitudes had seen what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice in the Lycaonian tongue, saying: The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

12 (14-11) And they called Barnabas, Jupiter: but Paul, Mercury: because he was chief speaker.

13 (14-12) The priest also of Jupiter that was before the city, bringing oxen and garlands before the gate, would have offered sacrifice with the people.