Acts 13:42

Besought - Entreated; asked; called.

Gentiles - A people; nations other than Israel.

Sabbath - A rest; cessation from work.

When the Jews were gone out - That part of them in whom the words of the prophet were fulfilled, viz. those who, though they had the clearest relation of so interesting a history, would not believe it: they shut their eyes against the light, and hardened their hearts against the truth. There were other Jews in the assembly that did believe, and were saved.

The Gentiles besought - There is some doubt whether the original, παρεκαλουν τα εθνη, should be translated the Gentiles besought; or they besought the Gentiles: for the words will bear either, but the latter sense more naturally. When the Jews retired, determining not to credit what was spoken, the apostle, seeing the Gentiles of a better mind, requested them to come and hear those words, or doctrines, the next Sabbath. But, the next, το μεταξυ, as Hesychius defines it, μετ' ολιγον, ανα μεσον, shortly, or betwixt, may mean the after part of the same Sabbath, or the course of the ensuing week, between the two Sabbaths; for Mondays and Thursdays, or the second and fifth days of the week, were times in which those who feared God usually met together in the synagogue; for it is a maxim with the rabbins, that no three days should elapse without reading of the law.

On this verse there is a great number of various readings: instead of, when the Jews were going out of the synagogue, ABCDE, several others of great repute, with all the Syriac, the Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, and Itala, read, As they were going out, they entreated that these words should be preached unto them in the course of the week, or the next Sabbath. So that, according to this well accredited reading, the words, εκ της συναγωγης των Ιουδαιων, are left out in the first clause, αυτων being put in their place; and τα εθνη, the Gentiles, is wholly omitted in the second clause. The most eminent critics approve of this reading; indeed it stands on such authority as to render it almost indubitable. Of the αυτων, them, which is substituted for the first clause, Professor White says, lectio indubie genuina: this reading is undoubtedly genuine; and of the τα εθνη εις, he says, certissime delenda: they should certainly be expunged. We are therefore to understand the words thus: that, "as they were going out on the breaking up of the assembly, some of them desired that they might have these doctrines preached to them on the ensuing week or Sabbath." And thus all the ambiguity of the verse vanishes.

And when the Jews ... - There is a great variety in the mss. on this verse, and in the ancient versions. Griesbach and Knapp read it, "And when they were gone out, they besought them that these words might be spoken, etc." The Syriac reads it, "When they departed from them, they sought from them that these words might be spoken to them on another Sabbath." The Arabic, "Some of the synagogue of the Jews asked of them that they would exhort the Gentiles with them, etc." If these readings be correct, then the meaning is, that some of the Jews exhorted the apostles to proclaim these truths at some other time, particularly to the Gentiles. The mss. greatly vary in regard to the passage, and it is, perhaps, impossible to determine the true reading. If the present reading in the English translation is to be regarded as genuine of which, however, there is very little evidence the meaning is, that a part of the Jews, perhaps a majority of them, rejected the message, and went out, though many of them followed Paul and Barnabas, Acts 13:43.

The Gentiles besought - This expression is missing in the Vulgate, Coptic, Arabic, and Syriac versions, and in a great many mss. (Mill). It is omitted by Griesbach, Knapp, and others, and is probably spurious. Among other reasons which may be suggested why it is not genuine, this is one, that it is not probable that the Gentiles were in the habit of attending the synagogue. Those who attended there were called "proselytes." The expression, if genuine, might mean either that the Gentiles besought, or that they besought the Gentiles. The latter would be the more probable meaning.

The next sabbath - The margin has probably the correct rendering of the passage. The meaning of the verse is, that a wish was expressed that these doctrines might be repeated to them in the intermediate time before the next Sabbath.

13:42 When the Jews were going out - Probably many of them, not bearing to hear him, went out before he had done. The Sabbath between - So the Jews call to this day the Sabbath between the first day of the month Tisri (on which the civil year begins) and the tenth of the same month, which is the solemn day of expiation.