Acts 8:11

And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
him	αὐτῷ autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
regard	προσεῖχον proseichon	G4337	(figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
that	διὰ dia	G1223	through (in very wide applications · preposition
long	ἱκανῷ hikanō	G2425	competent (as if coming in season) · adjective — dative singular masculine
time	χρόνῳ chronō	G5550	a space of time (in general · noun — dative singular masculine
bewitched	ἐξεστακέναι exestakenai	G1839	to put (stand) out of wits · verb — perfect active infinitive
them	αὐτούς· autous	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative plural masculine
sorceries	μαγείαις mageiais	G3095	"magic" · noun — dative plural feminine

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 8:9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out t…
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth…
Isaiah 8:19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a peopl…
Isaiah 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
Isaiah 47:9-13 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perf…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 8:4-13

Samson's riddle is here again unriddled: Out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong sweetness. The persecution that was designed to extirpate the church was by the overruling providence of God made an occasion of the enlargement of it. Christ had said, I am come to send fire on the earth; and they thought, by scattering those who were kindled with that fire, to have put it out, but instead of this they did but help to spread it. I. Here is a general account of what was done by them all (Act 8:4): They went every where, preaching the word. They did not go to hide themselves for fear of suffering, no, nor to show themselves as proud of their sufferings; but they went up and down…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 8:10

To whom all gave heed . . . because of long time he had bewitched them--This, coupled with the rapidity with which they deserted him and attached themselves to Philip, shows the ripeness of Samaria for some religious change.

Adam Clarke on Acts 8:10

This man is the great power of God - That is, he is invested with it, and can command and use it. They certainly did not believe him to be God; but they thought him to be endued with a great supernatural power. There is a remarkable reading here in several MSS. which should not pass unnoticed. In ABCDE, several others, together with the Ethiopic, Armenian, later Syriac, Vulgate, Itala, Origen, and Irenaeus, the word καλουμενη is added before μεγαλη, and the passage reads thus, This person is that power of God which is Called the Great. This appears to be the true reading; but what the Samaritans meant by that power of God which they termed the Great, we know not. Simon endeavored to persuade…

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John Gill on Acts 8:11

To him they had regard,.... Which is repeated from the foregoing verse, for the sake of what follows: because that of a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries; or because he had, it may be for many years, astonished them with his magic arts, and the pranks he played in the use of them.

The Church Fathers

"And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries." And yet there ought to have been not one demoniac there, seeing that of a long time he had been bewitching them with sorceries: but if there were many demoniacs, many palsied, these pretences were not truth.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 18

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

Apostle — A person sent by another; a messenger; envoy. This word is once used as a descriptive designation of Jesus Christ, the Sent of the Father (Heb. 3:1; John 20:21). It is, however, generally used as…
Magic — The Jews seem early to have consulted the teraphim (q.v.) for oracular answers (Judg. 18:5, 6; Zech. 10:2). There is a remarkable illustration of this divining by teraphim in Ezek. 21:19-22. We read…
Philip The Evangelist — is first mentioned in the account of the dispute between the Hebrew and Hellenistic disciples in Acts 6. He is one of the deacons appointed to superintend the daily distribution of food and alms, and…
Samaria — A watch-mountain or a watch-tower. In the heart of the mountains of Israel, a few miles north-west of Shechem, stands the “hill of Shomeron,” a solitary mountain, a great “mamelon.” It is an oblong…
Simon — The abbreviated form of Simeon. (1.) One of the twelve apostles, called the Canaanite (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:18). This word “Canaanite” does not mean a native of Canaan, but is derived from the Syriac…
Divination · Effected through: Sorcery — Effected through: Sorcery
Miracles Through Evil Agents · Exemplified: Simon Magus — Exemplified: Simon Magus
Philip · .Successfully preaches in Samaria — .Successfully preaches in Samaria
Preaching · .By Philip — .By Philip
Samaria · .Visited by Philip, Peter, and — .Visited by Philip, Peter, and
Samaria, Modern · Inhabitants of: Were superstitious — Inhabitants of: Were superstitious

Acts 8:11

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 8:4-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 8:10

Adam Clarke on Acts 8:10

John Gill on Acts 8:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Acts 8:11

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Acts 8:4-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Acts 8:10

Adam Clarke on Acts 8:10

John Gill on Acts 8:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Acts 8:5-13

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Acts 8:9-24