Perhaps the gesture of shaking the dust off one’s feet originally arose as travelers returning to Palestine shook the dust off their feet before entering the Holy Land so as not to defile it. As practiced by the Jews in New Testament times, the gesture evidently indicated that those persons against whom they shook the dust off their feet were considered to be pagans (see Luke 9.5; 10.11; Matthew 10.14). In the present setting the gesture may indicate that the missionaries feel as if they have cleared themselves of all further responsibility for the city that refuses to repent. It is not easy to introduce the concept of against them in speaking of shaking the dust off one’s feet. Usually one must be somewhat more specific than is suggested by merely the preposition against, for example, “they shook the dust off their feet as a sign against the people of that city.” By introducing a word such as “sign” or “symbol” one can suggest the symbolic significance of this act of shaking the dust off their feet. It may also be useful to have at this point a brief marginal note indicating the historical background for this symbolic action.

Iconium was a city about 80 miles southeast of Antioch in the Roman province of Galatia, and it would probably have required four or five days’ travel to arrive there.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .