Acts 28:20 - Exposition

Did I entreat you to see and to speak with me for have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you, A.V.; for because of for because that for, A.V. To see and to speak with me . Meyer, followed by Alford, rightly prefers the rendering of the A.V. and the margin of the R.V. παρακαλέω is here in its primary sense of calling any one to come to you, and the two infinitives express the object for which he called them, viz. to see and speak with them. Because of the hope of Israel (see Acts 23:1-35 . 6; Acts 24:14 , Acts 24:15 , Acts 24:21 ; Acts 26:6 , Acts 26:22 , Acts 26:23 ). I am bound with this chain ( περικεῖμαι ). In Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2 the millstone 'hangs about' ( περικεῖται ) the neck. But here and Hebrews 5:2 the construction is different, and the subject and the object are reversed. Instead of the chain encompassing Paul, Paul is said to be bound with the chain. (For the chain, see verse 16, note, and Acts 24:23 .) The force of this saying seems to be this, "I have asked you to come to me because this chain which binds me is not a token of a renegade Israelite who has come to Rome to accuse his nation before the heathen master, but of a faithful Israelite, who has endured bondage rather than forsake the hope of his fathers."