Acts 20 · Verse 8

Acts 20:8

And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

Acts 20:8, King James Version

Acts 20:8 in other translations

BSB	Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.
WEB	There were many lights in the upper room where we were gathered together.
ASV	And there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together.
YLT	and there were many lamps in the upper chamber where they were gathered together,
DARBY	And there were many lights in the upper room where we were assembled.
BBE	And there were a number of lights in the room where we had come together.
Webster	And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were assembled.

What does Acts 20:8 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

8. there were many lights in the upper chamber--not a mere piece of graphic detail by an eye-witness [Hackett, Howson], but mentioned, probably, as increasing the heat and contributing to drowsiness [Webster and Wilkinson], as the next clause seems to show.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 8. And there were many lights. Why this circumstance is mentioned is not apparent. It, however, meets one of the slanders of the early enemies of Christianity, that Christians in their assemblies were accustomed to extinguish all the lights, and to commit every kind of abomination. Perhaps the mention of many lights here is designed to intimate that it was a place of public worship, as not only the Jews, but the Gentiles were accustomed to have many lights burning in such places.

In the upper chamber. Acts 1:13.

(&) "many lights" "lamps" (n) "upper chamber" Acts 1:13 (|) "upper" "room" (+) "together" "Assembled"

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 8 Upper chamber - It was in an upper chamber in the temple that the primitive disciples were accustomed to meet: on that account, they might have preferred an upper chamber whenever they could meet with it. The pious Quesnel supposes that the smoke, issuing from the many lamps in this upper chamber, was the cause of Eutychus falling asleep; and this, he says, the apostle mentions, in charity, to excuse the young man's appearing negligent.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Acts 20:7-12

Though the disciples read, and meditated, and prayed, and sung apart, and thereby kept up communion with God, yet they came together to worship God, and so kept up their communion with one another. They came together on the first day of the week, the Lord's day. It is to be religiously observed by all disciples of Christ. In the breaking of the bread, not only the breaking of Christ's body for us, to be a sacrifice…

Read the full comment on Acts 20:7-12 →

Acts 20:8 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.

ἦσανēsanThere wereG1510

δὲdenowG1161

λαμπάδεςlampadeslampsG2985

ἱκαναὶhikanaimanyG2425

ἐνeninG1722

τῷtōtheG3588

ὑπερῴῳhuperōōupper roomG5253

οὗhouwhereG3757

ἦμενēmenwe wereG1510

συνηγμένοι.sunēgmenoiassembled.G4863

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Acts 20:8

Acts 1:13
And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
Luke 22:12
And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

in.
1:13; Lu 22:12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Acts 20:7
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Acts 20:8
And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.
Acts 20:9
And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

Read all of Acts 20

Acts 20:8 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y había muchas lámparas en el aposento alto donde estaban juntos.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Or il y avait beaucoup de lampes dans la chambre haute où nous étions assemblés.
German Elberfelder 1871	Es waren aber viele Fackeln in dem Obersaal, wo wir versammelt waren.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Erant autem lampades copiosæ in cœnaculo, ubi eramus congregati.