Acts 22:2

2 Whe they hearde that he spake in ye Ebrue tonge to them they kept the moore silence. And he sayde:

Acts 22:2 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 22:2

And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to
them (See Gill on Acts 21:40).

they kept the more silence;
it being their mother tongue, and which they best understood; and which the captain and the Roman soldiers might not so well under stand; and chiefly because the Hellenistic language was not so agreeable to them, nor the Hellenistic Jews, who spoke the Greek language, and used the Greek version of the Bible; and such an one they took Paul to be, besides his being a Christian; wherefore when they heard him speak in the Hebrew tongue, it conciliated their minds more to him, at least engaged their attention the more to what he was about to say:

and he saith;
the Syriac and Ethiopic versions add, "to them", as follows.

Acts 22:2 In-Context

1 Ye men brethre and fathers heare myne answere which I make vnto you.

2 Whe they hearde that he spake in ye Ebrue tonge to them they kept the moore silence. And he sayde:

3 I am verely aman which am a Iewe borne in Tharsus a cite in Cicill: neverthelesse yet brought vp in this cite at ye fete of Gamaliel and informed diligently in the lawe of the fathers and was fervent mynded to Godwarde as ye all are this same daye

4 and I persecuted this waye vnto the deeth byndynge and delyveringe into preson bothe men and wemen

5 as the chefe prest doth beare me witnes and all the elders: of whom also I receaved letters vnto the brethren and wet to Damasco to bringe them which were there bounde vnto Ierusalem for to be punysshed.