ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Acts 13.1
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Passage

Acts 13.1

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers, Barnabas, and Symeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen the foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

  1. And as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3, ASV)
WEB

1. Now in the assembly that was at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

  1. As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.” 3. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3, WEB)
KJV

1. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. which: or, Herod's foster brother

  1. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3, KJV)
YLT

1. And there were certain in Antioch, in the assembly there, prophets and teachers; both Barnabas, and Simeon who is called Niger, and Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen also, Herod the tetrarch's foster-brother, and Saul;

  1. and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Separate ye to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them,' 3. then having fasted, and having prayed, and having laid the hands on them, they sent [them] away. (Acts 13:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Luke, narrating (1:1)
  • Audience: The church at Antioch and its "prophets and teachers"
  • Location: Antioch in Syria, the third city of the Roman empire, where believers were first called Christians (11:26)
  • Time period: C. AD 46-47, just before the first missionary journey (13:2-4)

Theological reading

"Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul" (Acts 13:1, KJV).

A mixed leadership. The five names span the Mediterranean world. Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus (4:36). Simeon was "called Niger," a Latin nickname meaning "black." Lucius came from Cyrene in North Africa. Manaen had been "brought up with Herod the tetrarch," the Herod Antipas who beheaded John the Baptist; the KJV margin offers "Herod's foster brother." Saul was a Pharisee from Tarsus.

Africans among the founders. Men "of Cyprus and Cyrene" had been the first to preach to Greeks at Antioch (11:20), so Cyrenians were there at the church's beginning. Some have suggested that Simeon Niger is the Simon of Cyrene who carried Jesus' cross (Luke 23:26), but the text does not say so, and the identification is only a possibility.

The church that sent Paul. From this group the Spirit says, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (13:2). The mission to the Gentile world was launched by a congregation that already looked like it.

How the comparison uses it. The Kemetic Religion vs the Christian God comparison cites this verse against the claim that Christianity is a European religion imposed on Africa: Africans were among its first teachers. See Africans in Scripture Argument and Acts 8.39.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.