ACTS 17:20 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean.”
You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean — The 'strange' (xenos) evokes the cosmopolitan Athenian exposure to foreign ideas, yet the request for clarification signals openness to engagement. Luke presents the Areopagus as genuinely curious rather than dismissive.
Church Fathers on Acts 17:20
May we know what is this new doctrine spoken of by you? For you bring certain strange matters to our ears Acts 17:20: everywhere novelty is the charge: we would fain know therefore, what these things may mean. It was a city of talkers, that city of theirs. For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars hill, and said, You men of Athens, I look upon you…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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