Acts 19:14

Christian Standard Bible ®

Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.

Parallel Translations

King James Version (1611)
And there were seuen sonnes of one Sceua a Iewe, and chiefe of the Priests, which did so.

King James Version
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

English Standard Version
Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

New American Standard Bible
Now there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, doing this.

New Century Version
Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this.

Amplified Bible
Seven sons of one [named] Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now seven sons of one named Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

Berean Standard Bible
Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

Contemporary English Version
Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this,

Complete Jewish Bible
One time, seven sons of a Jewish cohen gadol named Skeva were doing this;

Darby Translation
And there were certain [men], seven sons of Sceva, Jewish high priest, who were doing this.

Geneva Bible (1587)
(And there were certaine sonnes of Sceua a Iewe, the Priest, about seuen which did this)

George Lamsa Translation
And there were seven sons of one Sce''va, a Jew, and chief of the priests, who did this.

Good News Translation
Seven brothers, who were the sons of a Jewish High Priest named Sceva, were doing this.

Lexham English Bible
(Now seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.)

Literal Translation
And there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, doing this.

American Standard Version
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, who did this.

Bible in Basic English
And there were seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jew and a chief priest, who did this.

Hebrew Names Version
There were seven sons of one Skeva, a Yehudi chief Kohen, who did this.

International Standard Version
Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

Etheridge Translation
There were seven sons of a man, a certain Jihudoya, chief of the priests, whose name was Skeva, who did this.

Murdock Translation
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, who did this.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And there were seuen sonnes of one Sceua a Iewe, and chiefe of ye priestes, which dyd so.

English Revised Version
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, which did this.

World English Bible
There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And there were seven sons of one Sceva a Jewish chief priest, who did this.

Weymouth's New Testament
There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew of high-priestly family, who were doing this.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And ther weren seuene sones of a Jewe, Steuen, a prince of preestis, that diden this thing.

Update Bible Version
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, who did this.

Webster's Bible Translation
And there were seven sons of [one] Sceva a Jew, [and] chief of the priests, who did so.

New English Translation
(Now seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.)

New King James Version
Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

New Living Translation
Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this.

New Life Bible
A Jewish leader of the people by the name of Sceva had seven sons. These sons were trying to do this.

New Revised Standard
Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a High-priest, who, this thing, were doing.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And there were certain men, seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, that did this.

Revised Standard Version
Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And ther were seven sonnes of one Sceva a Iewe and chefe of the prestes which dyd so.

Young's Literal Translation
and there were certain -- seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest -- who are doing this thing;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They were seuen sonnes of one Sceua a Iewe the hye prest, which dyd so.

Mace New Testament (1729)
these practitioners were seven in number, the sons of Sceva a Jew, one of the chief priests.

Simplified Cowboy Version
These gypsies were the seven sons of a Jewish preacher named Sceva.

Contextual Overview

¹³Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” ¹⁴Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. ¹⁵The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” ¹⁶Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem. ¹⁸And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, ¹⁹while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰In this way the word of the Lord flourished and prevailed.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 19:4
Before they went to bed, the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, the whole population, surrounded the house.

Genesis 19:8
Look, I’ve got two daughters who haven’t been intimate with a man. I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want to them. However, don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Genesis 19:12
Then the angels said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here: a son-in-law, your sons and daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of this place,

Genesis 19:14
So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were going to marry his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

Genesis 19:17
As soon as the angels got them outside, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Don’t look back and don’t stop anywhere on the plain! Run to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”

Genesis 19:22
Hurry up! Run to it, for I cannot do anything until you get there.” Therefore the name of the city is Zoar.

Genesis 19:28
He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw that smoke was going up from the land like the smoke of a furnace.

Genesis 19:30
Lot departed from Zoar and lived in the mountains along with his two daughters, because he was afraid to live in Zoar. Instead, he and his two daughters lived in a cave.

Exodus 9:21
but those who didn’t take to heart the Lord’s word left their servants and livestock in the field.

Exodus 12:31
He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get out immediately from among my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship the Lord as you have said.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And there were seven sons of one Sceva a Jew,.... Who strolled about the country, and used exorcisms: and

chief of the priests; that were at Ephesus; not the high priest of the Jews, for he would have been at Jerusalem, and not at Ephesus; though indeed it does not necessarily follow from the words, that Sceva himself was there, only his seven sons: however, no such name appears in the catalogue of the Jewish high priests, nor is it reasonable to think, that seven sons of an high priest should follow such a vagabond course of life: Beza's ancient copy only calls him "a priest"; and the Alexandrian copy reads his name, Sceuta, and the Ethiopic version omits it; it is the same with סכואה, and signifies a spectator, or observer; see the Targum on 2 Samuel 13:34.

which did so; adjured the devils in the name of Jesus, to come out; at least they did so in one case, as follows.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

One Sceva - Sceva is a Greek name, but nothing more is known of him.

Chief of the priests - This cannot mean that he was high priest among the Jews, as it is wholly improbable that his sons would be wandering exorcists. But it denotes that he was of the sacerdotal order. He was a Jewish chief priest; a priest of distinction, and had held the office of a ruler. The word “chief priest,” in the New Testament, usually refers to men of the sacerdotal order who were also rulers in the Sanhedrin.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 19:14. Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests — The original Ιουδαιου αρχιερεως, dignifies a Jewish high priest; but it is not probable that any sons, much less seven sons of a Jewish high priest, should be strolling exorcists: it is therefore likely that υιοισκευατινοςιερεως, the sons of Skeva, a certain priest, as it stands in the Codex Bezae, is the true reading. The whole verse in that MS. reads thus: Among them there also the sons of Skeva, a priest, who wished to do the same: for they were accustomed to exorcise such persons. And entering in to the demoniac, they began to invoke that Name, saying, We command thee by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth, to go out. And the evil spirit angered, and said unto them, Jesus I know, c. It has been often remarked that in our Lord's time there were many of the Jews that professed to cast out demons and perhaps to this our Lord alludes, Matthew 12:27. See Clark's note there; "Matthew 12:27".

Josephus, in speaking of the wisdom of Solomon, says that he had that skill by which demons are expelled; and that he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they are cast out; and that those arts were known among his countrymen down to his own time; and then gives us the following relation: "I have seen a certain man of my own country whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were demoniacs, in the presence of Vespasian, his sons, his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this: He put a ring, that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon, to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and, when the man fell down, immediately he adjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations that he had composed. And when Eleazar would persuade the spectators that he had such power, he set at a little distance a cup of water, and commanded the demon, as he went out of the man, to overturn it; and, when this was done, the skill and wisdom of Solomon were showed very manifestly." Joseph. ANTIQ. book viii. cap. 2, sect. 5. Whiston's edition.

That there were such incantations among the Jews we know well, and that there are still such found, and that they are attributed to Solomon; but that they are his remains to be proved; and could this even be done, a point remains which can never be proved, viz. that those curious arts were a part of that wisdom which he received from God, as Josephus intimates. Indeed, the whole of the above account gives the strongest suspicion of its being a trick by the Jewish juggler, which neither Josephus nor the emperor could detect; but the ring, the root, the cup of water, the spell, c. all indicate imposture. Magicians among the Jews were termed בעלי שם baaley shem, Masters of the Name, that is, the name of Jehovah יהוה by a certain pronunciation of which they believed the most wonderful miracles could be wrought. There were several among them who pretended to this knowledge; and, when they could not deny the miracles of our Lord, they attributed them to his knowledge of the true pronunciation of this most sacred name.