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OETOET-RVOET-LVULTUSTBSBBLBAICNTOEBWEBBEWMBBNETLSVFBVTCNTT4TLEBBBEMoffJPSWymthASVDRAYLTDrbyRVWbstrKJB-1769KJB-1611BshpsGnvaCvdlTNTWyclSR-GNTUHBBrLXXBrTrRelatedTopics Parallel InterlinearReferenceDictionarySearch

parallelVerse INTGENEXOLEVNUMDEUJOSJDGRUTH1SA2SAPSAAMOSHOS1KI2KI1CH2CHPROECCSNGJOELMICISAZEPHABJERLAMYNANAHOBADANEZEEZRAESTNEHHAGZECMALJOBYHNMARKMATLUKEACTsYACGAL1TH2TH1COR2CORROMCOLPHMEPHPHP1TIMTIT1PET2PET2TIMHEBYUD1YHN2YHN3YHNREV

Acts IntroC1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8C9C10C11C12C13C14C15C16C17C18C19C20C21C22C23C24C25C26C27C28

Acts 17 V1V2V3V4V5V6V7V8V9V10V11V12V13V14V15V16V17V18V19V21V22V23V24V25V26V27V28V29V30V31V32V33V34

Parallel ACTs 17:20

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

BI Acts 17:20 ©

Text critical issues=small word differences Clarity of original=clearImportance=normal(All still tentative.)

OET (OET-RV)It seems that you have some surprising ideas for our ears, so we want to hear what it’s all about.”

OET-LVFor/Because you_are_carrying_in some_ surprising _messages to the ears of_us.
Therefore we_are_wishing to_know what_all is_wanting these things to_be.

SR-GNTΞενίζοντα γάρ τινα εἰσφέρεις εἰς τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν. Βουλόμεθα οὖν γνῶναι τίνα θέλει ταῦτα εἶναι.”
   (Xenizonta gar tina eisfereis eis tas akoas haʸmōn. Boulometha oun gnōnai tina thelei tauta einai.”)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULTFor you are bringing some startling things into our ears. Therefore, we wish to know what these things want to be.”

USTYou are teaching us some things that we do not understand. We want to know what they mean.”

BSBFor you are bringing some strange notions to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”

BLBFor you are bringing some strange things to our ears. We resolve therefore to know what these things wish to be."


AICNTFor you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”

OEBFor you are bringing some strange things to our notice, and we should like to know what they mean.’

WEBBEFor you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”

WMBB (Same as above)

NETFor you are bringing some surprising things to our ears, so we want to know what they mean.”

LSVfor you bring certain strange things to our ears? We resolve, then, to know what these things would wish to be”;

FBVWe're hearing from you things that sound odd to us, so we'd like to know what they mean.”

TCNTFor yoʋ are bringing some strange things to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.”

T4TYou are teaching some things that startle us (exc), so we want to know what they mean.”

LEBFor you are bringing some astonishing things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”[fn]


17:20 Literally “these things want to be”

BBEFor you seem to us to say strange things, and we have a desire to get the sense of them.

MoffNo Moff ACTs book available

WymthFor the things you are saying sound strange to us. We should therefore like to be told exactly what they mean."

ASVFor thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.

DRAFor thou bringest in certain new things to our ears. We would know therefore what these things mean.

YLTfor certain strange things thou dost bring to our ears? we wish, then, to know what these things would wish to be;'

DrbyFor thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. We wish therefore to know what these things may mean.

RVFor thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.

WbstrFor thou bringest certain strange things to our ears; we would know therefore what these things mean.

KJB-1769For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.
   (For thou/you bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. )

KJB-1611For thou bringest certaine strange things to our eares: we would know therefore what these things meane.
   (For thou/you bringest certain strange things to our eares: we would know therefore what these things meane.)

BshpsFor thou bryngest certaine straunge thinges to our eares: We would knowe therfore what these thynges meane.
   (For thou/you bryngest certain strange things to our eares: We would know therefore what these things meane.)

GnvaFor thou bringest certaine strange thinges vnto our eares: we woulde knowe therefore, what these things meane.
   (For thou/you bringest certain strange things unto our eares: we would know therefore, what these things meane. )

CvdlFor thou bryngest strauge tidinges to oure eares? We wolde knowe therfore, what this meaneth.
   (For thou/you bryngest strauge tidinges to our eares? We would know therefore, what this meaneth.)

TNTFor thou bringest straunge tydynges to oure eares. We wolde knowe therfore what these thinges meane.
   (For thou/you bringest strange tidings/news to our ears. We would know therefore what these things meane. )

WyclFor thou bringist ynne summe newe thingis to oure eeris; therfor we wolen wite, what these thingis wolen be.
   (For thou/you bringist ynne some new things to our eeris; therefore we wolen wite, what these things wolen be.)

LuthDenn du bringest etwas Neues vor unsere Ohren; so wollten wir gerne wissen, was das sei.
   (Because you bringest etwas Neues before/in_front_of unsere Ohren; so wantedn we/us gerne wissen, what/which the sei.)

ClVgnova enim quædam infers auribus nostris: volumus ergo scire quidnam velint hæc esse.
   (nova because quædam infers in_the_ears nostris: volumus therefore scire quidnam velint these_things esse. )

UGNTξενίζοντα γάρ τινα εἰσφέρεις εἰς τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν. βουλόμεθα οὖν γνῶναι τίνα θέλει ταῦτα εἶναι.
   (xenizonta gar tina eisfereis eis tas akoas haʸmōn. boulometha oun gnōnai tina thelei tauta einai.)

SBL-GNTξενίζοντα γάρ τινα εἰσφέρεις εἰς τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν· βουλόμεθα οὖν γνῶναι ⸂τίνα θέλει⸃ ταῦτα εἶναι.
   (xenizonta gar tina eisfereis eis tas akoas haʸmōn; boulometha oun gnōnai ⸂tina thelei⸃ tauta einai.)

TC-GNTΞενίζοντα γάρ τινα εἰσφέρεις εἰς τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν· βουλόμεθα οὖν γνῶναι, [fn]τί ἂν θέλοι ταῦτα εἶναι—
   (Xenizonta gar tina eisfereis eis tas akoas haʸmōn; boulometha oun gnōnai, ti an theloi tauta einai— )


17:20 τι αν θελοι ¦ τινα θελει CT

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs, red:words differ (from our SR-GNT base).


TSNTyndale Study Notes:

17:16-34 In this chapter, we see Paul presented as a model witness for Christ, engaging the thinkers of his day and challenging them with the Christian message. Paul quoted writers his audience would be familiar with and showed the relevance of the gospel by dialoguing with them, critiquing their assumptions, and offering Jesus as a constructive alternative (see Col 1:28). Paul reminded these proud intellectuals that there is a living God to whom all human beings are answerable; that they will be judged by him through Jesus, whom God raised from the dead; and that they should therefore repent and put their faith in Jesus.

TTNTyndale Theme Notes:

The Unknown God

When Paul spoke to the Areopagus, the “high council of the city” of Athens (Acts 17:19), he was speaking to people who did not share his faith in the God of Abraham and Moses who had revealed himself “many times and in many ways to [his] ancestors through the prophets” (Heb 1:1). The members of his audience had a very different definition of the divine. A host of divinities inhabited their world, and the common people retained much of their belief in the ancient gods. But many of the cultural elite of Athens no longer believed in the gods in any literal sense. Instead, they held to either a form of materialism (the physical is everything) or pantheism (the divine inhabits everything).

What they all shared in common was the absence of the idea that there is one true God who is Lord of all. Their myths told of the activities of various gods, but they did not have faith that the ultimate reality, God himself, could be known. Instead, they reasoned and discussed “the latest ideas,” hoping for a better understanding of the nature of things.

There were a wide variety of philosophical ideas current in Athens when Paul visited, but two main schools of thought dominated, Stoicism and Epicureanism (Acts 17:18).

Zeno of Citium (334~262 BC) founded Stoicism. Stoics studied nature’s laws and believed in the Logos, a pervasive organizing and sustaining force that gives all things their essential nature and so gives life and reason to humanity. The good life is one in which reason rules, and peace of mind and harmony with nature prevail. Many prominent statesmen were Stoics or influenced by Stoicism, including Cicero, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Stoic ideas proved attractive to some Christians because of the similarities between the Stoic logos and the divine Logos (John 1:1-18), and between the idea of natural law and the law of God.

Those who followed Epicurus (341–270 BC) were empiricists; they relied upon sense experience (as opposed to reason) for knowledge. Epicureans were concerned with natural evidence and were unenthusiastic about mathematics. Their focus was ethics, the study of right behavior; they judged the value of an action or thing in terms of the pleasure or pain it brought. Epicurus saw belief in gods (meddling and powerful beings who terrified ordinary mortals) as a serious threat to tranquility. For him and his followers, neither the gods nor death (which is the end) should be feared.

When Paul spoke in that context, he used their own poets to proclaim things that they could barely comprehend: That the God who made everything is both personal and knowable; that he revealed himself clearly, historically, and definitively in Jesus Christ; that death is not followed by either the cessation of existence or the migration of the soul, but by judgment; and that the proof of all of this is the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

What was foolishness to most of the Greeks of Athens turns out to be the ultimate truth: God is knowable, and can be known through Jesus Christ.

Passages for Further Study

Ps 50:7-15; Isa 42:5-7; Acts 17:16-32; Rom 1:18-32; Col 1:15-23; 2:6-12; 1 Thes 1:9-10; Heb 1:1-4


UTNuW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

ξενίζοντα & τινα εἰσφέρεις εἰς τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν

surprising & some_‹words› ˱you˲_/are/_carrying_in to the ears ˱of˲_us

The philosophers are speaking of Paul’s teachings about Jesus and the resurrection as if they were objects that one person could bring to another person. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “you are saying some startling things”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

ξενίζοντα γάρ τινα εἰσφέρεις εἰς τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν

surprising for some_‹words› ˱you˲_/are/_carrying_in to the ears ˱of˲_us

The philosophers are referring to hearing by association with the ears, which people use to hear. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use an equivalent expression or express the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “we are hearing you say some startling things”

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / exclusive

ἡμῶν & βουλόμεθα

˱of˲_us & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ξενίζοντα γάρ τινα εἰσφέρεις εἰς τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν βουλόμεθα οὖν γνῶναι τίνα θέλει ταῦτα εἶναι)

By our and we, the philosophers mean themselves but not Paul, to whom they are speaking, so use the exclusive form of those words in your translation if your language marks that distinction.

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom

τίνα θέλει ταῦτα εἶναι

what_all /is/_wanting these_‹things› to_be

The philosophers are using an idiom. Your language may have a similar idiom that you could use in your translation. Or, if it would be clearer in your language, you could state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: “what these things mean”

BI Acts 17:20 ©