ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Acts 18.10
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Passage

Acts 18.10

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

8. And Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. 9. And the Lord said unto Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace:

10. for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city.

  1. And he dwelt there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment-seat, (Acts 18:8-12, ASV)
WEB

8. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his house. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized. 9. The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent;

10. for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”

  1. He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, (Acts 18:8-12, WEB)
KJV

8. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. 9. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

10. For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

  1. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. continued there: Gr. sat there 12. And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, (Acts 18:8-12, KJV)
YLT

8. and Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue did believe in the Lord with all his house, and many of the Corinthians hearing were believing, and they were being baptized. 9. And the Lord said through a vision in the night to Paul, 'Be not afraid, but be speaking and thou mayest be not silent;

10. because I am with thee, and no one shall set on thee to do thee evil; because I have much people in this city;'

  1. and he continued a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God. 12. And Gallio being proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a rush with one accord upon Paul, and brought him unto the tribunal, (Acts 18:8-12, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the Lord, speaking to Paul "in the night by a vision" (18:9). Elsewhere in Acts the Lord who appears to Paul identifies himself as Jesus (9:5; compare 23:11).
  • Audience: Paul
  • Location: Corinth, capital of the Roman province of Achaia, refounded as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar in 44 BC
  • Time period: c. AD 50-52, on Paul's second missionary journey. Gallio's term as proconsul of Achaia (18:12), dated by an inscription found at Delphi, places the end of the stay about AD 51-52.

Theological reading

"For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to harm thee: for I have much people in this city." The previous verse gives the command: "Be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace" (18:9). This verse gives three reasons.

Presence. "I am with thee" is the assurance God gave to his servants in Israel's Scriptures: to Jeremiah, "Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee" (Jeremiah 1:8); to Israel, "Fear thou not, for I am with thee" (Isaiah 41:10). The command not to fear may suggest that Paul was afraid; he later reminds the Corinthians that he came to them "in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3).

Protection. "No man shall set on thee to harm thee." The promise is not that no one will attack him. A few verses later the opponents "rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment-seat" (18:12). The promise is that the attack will not harm him, and Gallio dismisses the case before Paul says a word (18:14-16).

People. "I have much people in this city." The word for "people" (Strong's G2992, laos) is the one the Scriptures use for Israel as God's people. Here it is applied to people in a pagan city. James uses the same word at the Jerusalem council: God "visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name" (15:14). The Lord speaks in the present tense, "I have," while Paul's work in the city is still under way.

The result. Paul stays "a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them" (18:11). The promise of a people becomes the reason to stay and preach. See Acts 18.11 and Church at Corinth.

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.