to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
Lord
κύριοςkurios
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
Paul
Παύλῳ·Paulō
G3972
(little · noun — dative singular masculine, a proper name
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
night
νυκτὶnukti
G3571
"night" (literally or figuratively) · noun — dative singular feminine
by
δι᾽di᾽
G1223
through (in very wide applications · preposition
vision
ὁράματοςhoramatos
G3705
something gazed at · noun — genitive singular neuter
Be
φοβοῦphobou
G5399
to frighten · verb — present middle or passive deponent imperative, 2nd person singular
not
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
afraid
φοβέωphobéō
G5399
to frighten
but
ἀλλὰalla
G235
properly · conjunction
speak
λάλειlalei
G2980
to talk · verb — present active imperative, 2nd person singular
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
hold
σιωπήσῃς,siōpēsēs
G4623
properly · verb — aorist active subjunctive, 2nd person singular
not
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
thy peace
σιωπάωsiōpáō
G4623
properly
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 23:11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou…
Ephesians 6:19-20 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Ezekiel 2:6-8 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell am…
Acts 27:23-25 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
Jeremiah 1:17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound th…
Micah 3:8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israe…
Acts 16:9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
2 Corinthians 12:1-3 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 18:7-11
Here we are told,
I. That Paul changed his quarters. Christ directed his disciples, when he sent them forth, not to go from house to house (Luk 10:7), but there might be occasion to do it, as Paul did here. He departed out of the synagogue, being driven out by the perverseness of the unbelieving Jews, and he entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, Act 18:7. It should seem, he went to this man's house, not to lodge, for he continued with Aquila and Priscilla, but to preach. When the Jews would not let him go on peaceably with his work in their meeting, this honest man opened his doors to him, and told him he should be welcome to preach there; and Paul accepted the proposal. It was n…
Then spake the Lord to Paul . . . by a vision, Be not afraid . . . no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, &c.--From this it would seem that these signal successes were stirring up the wrath of the unbelieving Jews, and probably the apostle feared being driven by violence, as before, from this scene of such promising labor. He is reassured, however, from above.
Adam Clarke on Acts 18:9
Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision - It is likely that Paul was at this time much discouraged by the violent opposition of the Jews, and probably was in danger of his life; see Act 18:10; and might have been entertaining serious thoughts of ceasing to preach, or leaving Corinth. To prevent this, and comfort him, God was pleased to give him this vision.
Be not afraid - That this comfort and assurance were necessary himself shows us in his first epistle to these Corinthians, Act 2:3 : I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
John Gill on Acts 18:9
Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision,.... On a certain night as he was asleep, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream, and spake after this manner to him:
be not afraid; it is very likely that after the baptism of Crispus and his family, and of many of the Corinthians, that both the Jews and the Gentiles were exasperated against the apostle; and his life might seem to be in danger, and he might be thinking of removing from hence for his preservation and safety; and might be advised to it by his friends, or at least that he should be incognito, and not be seen publicly: wherefore the Lord appears to him, and bids him not indulge any fears, or conceal himself and be…
The Church Fathers
"by night in a vision." It should be noted that Paul saw the Lord Jesus by a dream. Therefore, he himself said: Did I not see Jesus our Lord? Whether he saw Jesus in a dream, or saw him while awake, there is no difference; moreover he appeared to him also by day. [AMMONIUS]
In Corinth, God appeared in a vision to the apostle and urged him not to be afraid to teach, and he made clear to him the reason why he should speak and not be silent, namely that, in that town, there were many that God knew would receive the proclamation of the gospel. For since it was natural that Paul, being human, was afraid of some attack against himself, seeing that then nearly everyone there was still pagan, God encourages and rouses the teacher to be brave by saying, "I am with you and will prevent anybody from attempting to harm you, so that nobody lays a hand on you."
"Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city." See by how many reasons He persuades him, and how He puts last the reason which of all others most prevailed with him, "I have much people in this city." Now even the number of the "much people" persuaded him, but Christ's claiming them for His own moved him more. Yet He says also, "Fear not": for the danger was become greater now, both because more believed, and also the ruler of the synagogue. This was enough to rouse him. Not that he was reproved as fearing; but that he should not suffer aught; "I am with thee, and none shall set upon thee to hurt thee." For He did not always permit them to suffer evil, that they might not become too weak. For nothing so grieved Paul, as men's unbelief and setting themselves against the Truth: this was worse than the dangers. Therefore it is that Christ appears to him now.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Visions · Mentioned in scripture: To Paul — Mentioned in scripture: To Paul
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Acts 18:6-11
6. And when they gainsayed him, and railed upon him, shaking his garments, he said unto them, Your blood be upon your own head; I will go henceforth clean unto the Gentiles. 7. And going thence, he entered into the house of a certain man named Justus, a worshipper of God, whose house joined to the synagogue. 8. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household: and many of the Corinthians which heard believed, and were baptized. 9. And the Lord said by night, by a vision, to Paul, Fear not, but speak, and hold not thy peace: 10. Because I am with thee, and no man shall lay hand on thee to hurt thee: because I have much people in this cit…
Paul had experienced real opposition in Corinth (18:6) and apparently was afraid of being attacked again, so the divine message was a comfort to him (cp. 23:11; Ps 34:4, 7, 19; Matt 28:20), encouraging him to persist in his public ministry and promising God’s protection (cp. Ps 91:11; 2 Tim 4:17).
