Acts 12:22

22 and the assembled people kept shouting, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!"

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 the people of Tyre and Sidon had incurred Herod's violent displeasure. So they sent a large deputation to wait on him; and having secured the good will of Blastus, his treasurer, they begged the king to be friendly with them again, because their country was dependent on his for its food supply.

21 So, on an appointed day, Herod, having arrayed himself in royal robes, took his seat on the tribunal, and was haranguing them;

22 and the assembled people kept shouting, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!"

23 Instantly an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the glory to God, and being eaten up by worms, he died.

24 But God's Message prospered, and converts were multiplied.