SEV Biblia, Chapter 13:41
Mirad, oh menospreciadores, y entonteceos, y desvaneceos; porque yo hago una obra en vuestros días, obra que no creeris, si alguien os la contare.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 13:41
Verse 41. Behold, ye despisers] There is a remarkable difference here between the Hebrew text in Habakkuk, and that in the Septuagint, which is a little abridged here by St. Paul. I shall exhibit the three texts. Heb:- rpoy yk wnymat al kymyb l[p l[p yk whmt whmthw wfybhw ywgb war Reu bagoyim vehabitu vehitammehu; temehu; ki poal poel bimeycem, lo teaminu hi yesupar. Behold, ye among the heathen, (nations,) and regard, and be astonished; be astonished, for I am working a work in your days, which; when it shall be told, ye will not credit. See Houbigant. Sept. idete oi katafronhtai, kai epibleyate, kai qaumasate qaumasia, kai afanisqhte? dioti ergon egw ergazomai en taiv hmeraiv umwn, o ou mh pisteushte, ean tiv ekdihghtai umin. See, ye despisers, and look attentively, and be astonished, (or hide yourselves,) for I work a work in your days, which, if any one will tell to you, ye will not believe.
St. Luke. idete oi katafronhtai, (kai epibleyate,) kai qaumasate, (qaumassia,) kai afanisqhte? oti ergon egw ergazomai en taiv hmeraiv umwn, ergon w ou mh pisteushte, ean tiv ekdihghtai umin. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and be astonished, (or hide yourselves,) for I work a work in your days, which, if any one will tell unto you, ye will not believe.
I have taken Luke's quotation from the best MSS., and I have quoted the Septuagint according to the Codex Alerandrinus; and the quotations are exactly the same, not only in words, but almost in letters, with the exception of epibleyate and qaumasia which the evangelist omits, and which I have included in crotchets in the text of St. Luke, merely that the place of the omission may be the better seen. It may now be necessary to inquire how St. Luke and the Septuagint should substitute ye despisers, for ye among the heathen, in the Hebrew text? Without troubling myself or my readers with labourious criticisms on these words, with which many learned men have loaded the text, I will simply state my opinion, that the prophet, instead of ywgb bagoyim, among the heathen, wrote ydgb bogadim, despisers, or transgressors: a word which differs only in a single letter, d daleth, for w vau; the latter of which might easily be mistaken by a transcriber for the other, especially if the horizontal stroke of the d daleth happened to be a little faint towards the left; as, in that case, it would wear the appearance of a w vau; and this is not unfrequently the case, not only in MSS., but even in printed books. It seems as evident as it can well be that this gives the word which the Septuagint found in the copy from which they translated: their evidence, and that of the apostle, joined to the consideration that the interchange of the two letters mentioned above might have been easily made, is quite sufficient to legitimate the reading for which I contend. Houbigant and several others are of the same mind.
The word afanisqhte, which we translate perish, signifies more properly disappear, or hide yourselves; as people, astonished and alarmed at some coming evil, betake themselves to flight, and hide themselves in order to avoid it.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 41. Behold, ye despisers , etc.] In ( Habakkuk 1:5) from whence these words are taken: we render it with others, behold ye among the Heathen; as if the word ywgb , was compounded of b in, and ywg , nations or Heathens; and so reads the Chaldee paraphrase, look among the people; but the Septuagint version renders it, behold, ye despisers; which the apostle is thought to follow; wherefore some have imagined a different reading, and that the Septuagint, instead of ywgb reads ydgwb , the singular of which is used in ( Habakkuk 2:5) and there rendered a despiser in the same version: but it should be observed, that the Septuagint is not the only version that so renders the word; for the Syriac version renders it, behold, ye impudent; and the Arabic version, behold, ye negligent; and Dr. Pocock has shown that this word comes from the root agb which though not to be found in the Bible, yet in the Arabic language, among other things, signifies to behave proudly, or insolently, and so is very properly rendered despisers, without supposing any different reading or corruption in the text: and as in Habakkuk the proud and haughty Jews are there spoke to, who neglected and despised the law; this is accommodated by the apostle to the Jews in his time, who were very much disposed to despise the Gospel, as they generally did. It follows, and wonder, and perish; or disappear, or change countenance, through shame for their sins, and amazement at the judgments of God upon them: for I work a work in your days, which you shall in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you ; which, in Habakkuk, refers to the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; and here it is suggested, by the citation and application of it, that in a short time a like work would be done in their days; the city and temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed by the Romans, which when told to the Jews in foreign parts, as here in Pisidia, would not be believed by them, though it should be told them by men of probity and credit.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 38-41 - Let all that hear the gospel of Christ, know these two things: 1. Tha through this Man, who died and rose again, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Your sins, though many and great, may be forgiven and they may be so without any injury to God's honour. 2. It is by Christ only that those who believe in him, and none else, are justifie from all things; from all the guilt and stain of sin, from which the could not be justified by the law of Moses. The great concern of convinced sinners is, to be justified, to be acquitted from all their guilt, and accepted as righteous in God's sight, for if any is lef charged upon the sinner, he is undone. By Jesus Christ we obtain complete justification; for by him a complete atonement was made for sin. We are justified, not only by him as our Judge but by him as the Lord our Righteousness. What the law could not do for us, in that is was weak, the gospel of Christ does. This is the most needful blessing bringing in every other. The threatenings are warnings; what we ar told will come upon impenitent sinners, is designed to awaken us to beware lest it come upon us. It ruins many, that they despise religion Those that will not wonder and be saved, shall wonder and perish.
Greek Textus Receptus
ιδετε 1492 5628 V-2AAM-2P οι 3588 T-NPM καταφρονηται 2707 N-NPM και 2532 CONJ θαυμασατε 2296 5657 V-AAM-2P και 2532 CONJ αφανισθητε 853 5682 V-APM-2P οτι 3754 CONJ εργον 2041 N-ASN εγω 1473 P-1NS εργαζομαι 2038 5736 V-PNI-1S εν 1722 PREP ταις 3588 T-DPF ημεραις 2250 N-DPF υμων 5216 P-2GP εργον 2041 N-ASN ω 3739 R-DSN ου 3756 PRT-N μη 3361 PRT-N πιστευσητε 4100 5661 V-AAS-2P εαν 1437 COND τις 5100 X-NSM εκδιηγηται 1555 5741 V-PNS-3S υμιν 5213 P-2DP
Vincent's NT Word Studies
41. Perish (afanisqhte). Lit., vanish.Declare (ekdihghtai). Only here and ch. xv. 3. See on shew, Luke viii. 39. The word is a very strong expression for the fullest and clearest declaration: declare throughout.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
13:41 {Ye despisers} (hoi katafronetai). Not in the Hebrew, but in the LXX. It is pertinent for Paul's purpose. {Perish} (afanisqete). Or vanish away. First aorist passive imperative. Added by the LXX to the Hebrew. {If one declare it unto you} (ean tis ekdiegetai humin). Condition of third class with present middle subjunctive, if one keep on outlining (double compound, ek-di-geomai) it unto you. Paul has hurled a thunderbolt at the close.
