3:11a

persecutions: The word persecutions refers to physical or mental abuse or harassment. People who did not agree with Paul’s religious beliefs had regularly said and done things to discredit or harm him. They did those things so he would stop preaching about Christ.

sufferings: The word sufferings refers to the physical pain that Paul had experienced because people persecuted him.

3:11b

that came upon me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra: Here Paul named some specific places where his “persecutions and sufferings” had occurred.

Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra: These are the names of three towns. Before translating this verse read what Luke wrote about Paul’s visits to these towns, in Acts 13:44–14:23. Lystra was the town where the Jews provoked the crowd to stone Paul. It was also the town where Timothy and his parents lived. So even though Paul did not specifically mention “stoning,” Timothy knew what Paul meant when he said that came upon me.

3:11c

What persecutions I endured!: There was no punctuation in the original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. Therefore Bible scholars have different opinions about how this clause relates to the rest of the sentence and what its function is. The main interpretations are:

(1) It restates the previous clause (3:11b) about what had happened to Paul in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. For example, the New Jerusalem Bible says:

^11aand the persecutions and sufferings ^11bthat came to me in places like Antioch, Iconium and Lystra—^11call the persecutions I have endured:

See also New International Version (2011 Revision), Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New American Standard Bible, Revised English Bible, King James Version.

(2) It is the first clause of the following sentence. For example, the NET Bible says:

^11aas well as the persecutions and sufferings ^11bthat happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, and in Lystra. ^11cI endured these persecutions ^11dand the Lord delivered me from them all.

See also God’s Word, New Century Version, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), LSA.

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1) as do the majority of translations.

3:11d

Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them: There were times when the people who persecuted Paul almost killed him. But the Lord had protected and rescued him from each of these difficult situations.

Yet: The Greek conjunction kai, which the Berean Standard Bible translates here as Yet, is the most common way to join sentences in Greek. Its most basic meaning is “and.” Here, 3:11d seems to be in contrast with 3:11c. So an English conjunction like “but” shows contrast much better than “and.” Good News Translation, King James Version, New Living Translation (2004 Revision), and New Century Version all translate this word as “but.”

the Lord: Here the word Lord most likely refers to Jesus, not God the Father.

If there is a term in your language for Lord that can refer to both God the Father and to Jesus, use it. If not, use a word that specifically refers to Jesus, for example, “the Lord Jesus.”

them: The pronoun them refers to the persecutions in 3:11c.

© 2003 by SIL International®

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.