And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
20. These men trouble our city. This accusation was craftily composed to burden the servants of Christ. For on the one side they pretend the name of the Romans, than which nothing was more favorable; on the other, they purchase hatred, and bring them in contempt, by naming the Jews, which name was at that time infamous; for, as touching religion, the Romans were more...
This slave girl, possessed by a spirit that mimicked Apollo's oracles, spoke truth about Paul and his companions, but truth from a demon's mouth is no testimony worth having. She enriched her masters by feeding men's hunger to know the future; the devil himself maintains his dominion by pretending to reveal what lies hidden.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 16:16-24
And brought them to the magistrates,.... The same as before; wherefore the Syriac version omits them there, and reads them both together here, calling them the magistrates and chief men of the city; though the word here used, properly signifies military captains, captains of the Roman militia: but that they were the same with the Decuriones, or ten men before mentioned, appears from what Harpocratian...