• Acts 17:28The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures

    • 28 ἐν In αὐτῷ him γὰρ for ζῶμεν we are living καὶ and κινούμεθα we are moving καὶ and ἐσμέν, we are, ὡς as καί also τινες some τῶν of the καθ’ down ὑμᾶς YOU ποιητῶν poets εἰρήκασιν have said Τοῦ Of the (one) γὰρ for καὶ also γένος race ἐσμέν. we are.

  • Acts 17:28King James Version

    • 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

  • Acts Study Notes—Chapter 17New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Study Edition)

    • 17:28

      we have life and move and exist: Some suggest that this statement reflects a Greek rhetorical style called tricolon, which uses three parallel words to express a thought. Philosophers Plato, Sophocles, and Aristotle used this technique. Others suggest that this was an allusion to a poem by Epimenides, a Cretan poet of the sixth century B.C.E.

      some of your own poets: Paul apparently quoted the expression “for we are also his children” from the poem Phaenomena, by the Stoic poet Aratus, and similar words are found in other Greek writings, including Hymn to Zeus, by the Stoic writer Cleanthes. Paul may have quoted Greek poets because educated speakers were expected to offer classical quotations among their proofs.