Acts 13:18
And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
Acts 13:18 in other translations
| BSB | He endured their conduct for about forty years in the wilderness. |
|---|---|
| WEB | For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. |
| ASV | And for about the time of forty years as a nursing-father bare he them in the wilderness. |
| YLT | and about a period of forty years He did suffer their manners in the wilderness, |
| DARBY | and for a time of about forty years he nursed them in the desert. |
| BBE | And for about forty years he put up with their ways in the waste land. |
| Webster | And about the time of forty years he suffered their manners in the wilderness. |
What does Acts 13:18 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 13:18-22
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Barnes' Notes
Suffered he their manners. This passage has been very variously rendered. See the margin. Syriac, "He nourished them," etc. Arabic, He blessed them, and nourished them," etc. The word is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. The word properly means, to tolerate, or endure the conduct of any one, implying that that conduct is evil, and tends to provoke to punishment. This is doubtless its meaning here. Probably Paul referred to the passage in De 1:31: "The Lord thy God bare thee." But instead of this word, ετροποφορησεν, many Mss. read ετροφοφορησεν, he sustained or nourished. This reading was followed by the Syriac, Arabic, and has been admitted by Griesbach into the text. This is also found in the Septuagint, in De 1:31, which place Paul doubtless referred to. This would well suit the connexion of the passage; and a change of a single letter might easily have occurred in a Ms. It adds to the probability that this is the true reading, that it accords with De 1:31, Nu 11:12, De 32:10. It is furthermore not probable that Paul would have commenced a discourse by reminding them of the obstinacy and wickedness of the nation. Such a course would rather tend to exasperate than to conciliate; but by reminding them of the mercies of God to them, and slowing them that God had been their protector, he was better fitting them for his main purpose--that of showing them the kindness of the God of their fathers in sending to them a Saviour.
In the wilderness. The desert through which they passed in going from Egypt to Canaan.
(d) "forty years" Ex 13:14,16 (1) "suffered he their manners" "ετροποφορησεν, perhaps for ετροφοφορησεν, bore or fed them, as a nurse beareth or feedeth her child, De 1:31 according to the Seventy; and so Chrysostam.
Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Acts 13:14-31
When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this…
Acts 13:18 in the original Greek
Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.
Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).
Cross references for Acts 13:18
- Acts 7:36
He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
- Numbers 14:22
Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
- Exodus 16:2
And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:
- Numbers 14:33-34
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
- Deuteronomy 9:21-24
And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount. And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth–hattaavah, ye provoked the Lord to wrath. Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh–barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.
- Deuteronomy 9:7
Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord.
- Exodus 16:35
And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
- Amos 5:25-26
Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
- Psalms 95:8-11
Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
- Psalms 78:17-42
And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people? …
- Nehemiah 9:16-21
But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. …
- Psalms 106:13-29
They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord. …
Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:36,39-43; Ex 16:2,35; Nu 14:22,33,34; De 9:7,21-24; Ne 9:16-21
Ps 78:17-42; 95:8-11; 106:13-29; Eze 20:10-17; Am 5:25,26
1Co 10:1-10; Heb 3:7-10,16-19
suffered."Gr. [tropophoreo ,] perhaps for [trophophoreo,] bore, or fed them as a nurse beareth or feedeth her child, De 1:31; according to the LXX., and so Chrysostom."
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Acts 13:17
The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.
- Acts 13:18
And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
- Acts 13:19
And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.
Acts 13:18 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Y por tiempo como de cuarenta años soportó sus costumbres en el desierto; |
|---|---|
| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Et il prit soin d’eux dans le désert, comme une mère, environ 40 ans; |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | und eine Zeit von etwa vierzig Jahren pflegte er sie in der Wüste. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | et per quadraginta annorum tempus mores eorum sustinuit in deserto. |