Acts 14:16
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
Acts 14:16 in other translations
| BSB | In past generations, He let all nations go their own way. |
|---|---|
| WEB | who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. |
| ASV | who in the generations gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways. |
| YLT | who in the past generations did suffer all the nations to go on in their ways, |
| DARBY | who in the past generations suffered all the nations to go in their own ways, |
| BBE | Who in the past let all nations go in the ways which seemed good to them. |
| Webster | Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. |
What does Acts 14:16 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 14:14-18
14-18. when ... Barnabas and Paul heard--Barnabas is put first here, apparently as having been styled the "Jupiter" of the company. they rent their clothes and ran in--rather (according to the true reading), "ran forth." among the people, crying out ... Sirs, why do ye these things?--This was something more than that abhorrence of idolatry which took possession of the Jews as a nation from the time of the Babylonish…
Barnes' Notes
Suffered all nations. Permitted all nations; that is, all Gentiles. Acts 17:30, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at."
To walk in their own ways. To conduct themselves without the restraints and instructions of a written law. They were permitted to follow their own reason and passions, and their own system of religion. He gave them no written laws, and sent to them no messengers. Why he did this, we cannot determine. It might have been, among other reasons, to show to the world conclusively,
(1.) the insufficiency of reason to guide men in the matters of religion. The experiment was made under the most favourable circumstances. The most enlightened nations, the Greeks and Romans, were left to pursue the inquiry, and failed no less than the most degraded tribes of men. The trial was made for four thousand years, and attended with the same results everywhere.
(2.) It showed the need of revelation to guide man.
(3.) It evinced, beyond the possibility of mistake, the depravity of man. In all nations, in all circumstances, men had shown the same alienation from God. By suffering them to walk in their own ways, it was seen that those ways were sin, and that some power more than human was necessary to bring men back to God.
(a) "in times past" Ps 81:12, Acts 17:30 (*) "nations" "The Gentiles"
Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Acts 14:8-18
All things are possible to those that believe. When we have faith, that most precious gift of God, we shall be delivered from the spiritual helplessness in which we were born, and from the dominion of sinful habits since formed; we shall be made able to stand upright and walk cheerfully in the ways of the Lord. When Christ, the Son of God, appeared in the likeness of men, and did many miracles, men were so far from…
Acts 14:16 in the original Greek
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Cross references for Acts 14:16
- Acts 17:30
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
- Psalms 81:12
So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
- Psalms 147:20
He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord.
- Romans 1:28
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
- Micah 4:5
For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.
- 1 Peter 4:3
For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
- Romans 1:21-25
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: …
- Ephesians 2:12
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
- Hosea 4:17
Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Context
- Acts 14:15
And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:
- Acts 14:16
Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.
- Acts 14:17
Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
Acts 14:16 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | El cual en las edades pasadas ha dejado á todas las gentes andar en sus caminos; |
|---|---|
| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | lequel dans les générations passées a laissé toutes les nations marcher dans leurs propres voies; |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | der in den vergangenen Geschlechtern alle Nationen in ihren eigenen Wegen gehen ließ, |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Et quidem non sine testimonio semetipsum reliquit benefaciens de cælo, dans pluvias et tempora fructifera, implens cibo et lætitia corda nostra. |