| 12. Linguistic Exegesis The verse opens with esigēsen {ἐσίγησεν | e-sí-gē-sen} “fell silent,” an aorist verb portraying the crowd’s sudden, collective hush. The subject pan to plēthos {πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος | pân tò plê-thos} “the whole multitude” uses a neuter singular collective noun with pan to emphasize unified silence. The narrative then presents the imperfect ēkouon {ἤκουον | ḗ-kou-on} “were listening,” indicating ongoing attention to Barnabas and Paul in the genitive (Barnaba {Βαρναβᾶ | Bar-na-bâ}, Paulou {Παύλου | Paú-lou}), as akouō regularly takes the genitive for the person heard. The participle exēgoumenōn {ἐξηγουμένων | ex-ē-gou-mé-nōn} “describing” is genitive plural, linked to Barnabas and Paul as a genitive of contemporaneous action, introducing their report. The relative pronoun hosa {ὅσα | hó-sa} “all that” introduces the aorist epoiēsen {ἐποίησεν | e-poí-ē-sen} with ho Theos {ὁ θεὸς | ho the-ós} as subject, foregrounding God’s activity. The compound object semeia kai terata {σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα | sē-meî-a kaí té-ra-ta} “signs and wonders” pairs meaning-rich terms, and the phrase en tois ethnesin {ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν | en toîs éth-ne-sin} situates God’s work among the Gentiles, a key missiological focus of the council. The prepositional di auton {δι’ αὐτῶν | di au-tôn} “through them” expresses instrumentality, identifying Barnabas and Paul as God’s agents. This sequence—crowd reaction, listening, content of report, and divine action—preserves the Greek emphasis and theological thrust. |