ACTS 26:14 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”
'We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' - All fall prostrate (piptō, piptō-'fall'); Paul hears the voice in Aramaic (Hebrais, Hebrais-'in Hebrew,' i.e., Aramaic), addressing him by his Hebrew name. The voice's question cuts to the core: why persecute 'me' (eme, eme)-identifying the persecuted Christians with the risen Jesus. The proverb 'hard to kick against the goads' (sklēron soi pros kentra laktizein, sklēron soi pros kentra laktizein) invokes the image of an animal resisting a goad, causing itself pain. Paul's persecution is not success but self-destruction.
Church Fathers on Acts 26:14
And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? Acts 26:6-8 Two arguments he lays down for the Resurrection: one, the argument from the prophets: and he does not bring forward any prophet (in…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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