Act 19:38 | RWP | e4.org | Have a matter against any one ( εχουσιν προς τινα λογον ). For this use of εχω λογον with προς see ; . The town-clerk names Demetrius and the craftsmen ( τεχνιτα ) as the parties responsible for the riot. The courts are open ( αγοραιο αγοντα ). Supply ημερα (days), court days are kept, or συνοδο , court-meetings are now going on, Vulgate conventus forenses aguntur . Old adjective from αγορα (forum) marketplace where trials were held. Cf. . There were regular court days whether they were in session then or not. And there are proconsuls ( κα ανθυπατο εισιν ). Asia was a senatorial province and so had proconsuls (general phrase) though only one at a time, "a rhetorical plural" (Lightfoot). Page quotes from an inscription of the age of Trajan on an aqueduct at Ephesus in which some of Luke's very words occur ( νεωκοροσ, ανθυπατοσ, γραμματευσ, δημος ). Let them accuse one another ( εγκαλειτωσαν αλληλοις ). Present active imperative of εγκαλεω ( εν, καλεω ), old verb to call in one's case, to bring a charge against, with the dative. Luke uses the verb six times in Acts for judicial proceedings ( , ; , ; , ). The town-clerk makes a definite appeal to the mob for orderly legal procedure as opposed to mob violence in a matter where money and religious prejudice unite, a striking rebuke to so-called lynch-law proceedings in lands today where Christianity is supposed to prevail.

‏ Acts 19:38

Have a matter against any one ( εχουσιν προς τινα λογον ). For this use of εχω λογον with προς see Mt 5:32; Col 3:13. The town-clerk names Demetrius and the craftsmen ( τεχνιτα ) as the parties responsible for the riot.

The courts are open ( αγοραιο αγοντα ). Supply ημερα (days), court days are kept, or συνοδο, court-meetings are now going on, Vulgate conventus forenses aguntur. Old adjective from αγορα (forum) marketplace where trials were held. Cf. Ac 17:4. There were regular court days whether they were in session then or not.

And there are proconsuls ( κα ανθυπατο εισιν ). Asia was a senatorial province and so had proconsuls (general phrase) though only one at a time, "a rhetorical plural" (Lightfoot). Page quotes from an inscription of the age of Trajan on an aqueduct at Ephesus in which some of Luke's very words occur ( νεωκοροσ, ανθυπατοσ, γραμματευσ, δημος ).

Let them accuse one another ( εγκαλειτωσαν αλληλοις ). Present active imperative of εγκαλεω ( εν, καλεω ), old verb to call in one's case, to bring a charge against, with the dative. Luke uses the verb six times in Acts for judicial proceedings (19:38, 40; 23:28, 29; 26:2, 7). The town-clerk makes a definite appeal to the mob for orderly legal procedure as opposed to mob violence in a matter where money and religious prejudice unite, a striking rebuke to so-called lynch-law proceedings in lands today where Christianity is supposed to prevail.