TỊBỊYỌ 12

“Jehovah Kụrọ Mị Baratụa A Pịrị Wẹrị Yesiingha Bara Akị Egberigbaa Mị”

FARỊ

Paul mọ Barnabas mọ angọ-iyerimọ, dẹịnsụọgha, bá yesiingha bara akị egberigbaa mị

Duo boemi yọbị Acts 14:1-28

1, 2. Paul mọ Barnabas mọ Lystra a timi ifie mị teeki paa ma o?

Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

² Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

3. Te biibịbịama kị wó mọ kẹrị ẹrẹtei dọụmịnị a o?

³ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

“Biin Kịmịama . . . Gesii Kẹrịakị Mị” (Acts 14:1-7)

4, 5. Tetuu kị duonị, Paul mọ Barnabas mọ Iconium amú ma o, teeki bá bịsẹ yọma paa ma o?

⁴ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

⁵ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

ICONIUM—CITY OF THE PHRYGIANS

Iconium was located on a high, well-watered, and fertile plateau. The city stood at a crossroads on an important trade route linking Syria with Rome, Greece, and the Roman province of Asia.

The local religion in Iconium was worship of the Phrygian fertility goddess Cybele, which included elements adopted from Greek worship during the Hellenistic period. The city came under Roman influence in 65 B.C.E., and in the first century C.E., it was a large and prosperous center of trade and agriculture. Although Iconium was home to an influential Jewish population, the city seems to have retained its Hellenistic character. The Acts account, in fact, refers to resident Jews and to “Greeks.”—Acts 14:1.

Iconium lay on the border between the Galatian regions of Lycaonia and Phrygia. Certain ancient writers, including Cicero and Strabo, called Iconium a city of Lycaonia, and from a geographic standpoint, the city did belong to that region. The Acts account, however, distinguishes Iconium from Lycaonia, where “the Lycaonian language” was spoken. (Acts 14:1-6, 11) For this reason, critics argued that the book of Acts was inaccurate. In 1910, though, archaeologists found inscriptions in the city indicating that Phrygian was indeed the language used in Iconium for two centuries following the visit of Paul and Barnabas. Hence, the writer of Acts was correct in distinguishing Iconium from the cities of Lycaonia.

6. Tetuu kị duonị, Paul mọ Barnabas mọ ebi kịmị tolumọ kịmịama paa ma, omịnị bá tebara ka kị a dimịẹ a paa emi a o?

⁶ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

7. (a) Ebi egberi mị teeki mịẹpaamọ mịnị a o? (b) Ị́mịnị Jehovah karịmịnị kị duonị, iné warịbolou otu ị́ penimọ mịnịaba teeki ị́ mọ ukie agbẹị emi a?

⁷ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

8. Tetuu kị duonị, Paul mọ Barnabas mọ Iconium a barasin ma, anị mịẹdịaye mị te ka kị wó tolumọ ma o?

⁸ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

“Gesii Ọkpọnanaowei . . . Kị Karị” (Acts 14:8-19)

9, 10. Lystra teyọ ka timi ma o, Lystra otubo tebara kị timi kịmịama o?

⁹ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

¹⁰ Beke a goo, [Pidgin West Africa]

LYSTRA AND THE CULT OF ZEUS AND HERMES

Lystra was located in a secluded valley off the main highways. Caesar Augustus designated the city a Roman colony, naming it Julia Felix Gemina Lustra. Its garrison was to defend the province of Galatia from local mountain tribes. The city was thus administered according to traditional Roman civic organization, with its officials bearing Latin titles. Even so, Lystra retained much of its local character. It remained more Lycaonian than Roman, and indeed, the Lystran protagonists in the Acts account spoke the Lycaonian language.

Among the archaeological finds in the vicinity of ancient Lystra are inscriptions referring to “priests of Zeus” and a statue of the god Hermes. An altar dedicated to Zeus and Hermes has also been discovered in that area.

A legend recorded by the Roman poet Ovid (43 B.C.E. to 17 C.E.) provides further background for the Acts account. According to Ovid, Jupiter and Mercury, the Roman counterparts of the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes, visited the hill country of Phrygia disguised as mortal men. They sought hospitality in a thousand homes, but everyone turned them away. Only an elderly couple, named Philemon and Baucis, welcomed them into their humble cottage. As a result, Zeus and Hermes transformed that home into a temple of marble and gold, made the elderly couple its priest and priestess, and destroyed the homes of those who had refused them lodging. “If the people of Lystra remembered such a legend when they saw Paul and Barnabas heal the lame man,” says The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting, “it is not surprising that they would want to welcome them with sacrifices.”