Devine Scripture

Acts 20:8

What does Acts 20:8 mean?

A plain-English look at Acts 20:8 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Acts 20:8 means

The upper room is brightly lit with “many lights,” a small but telling detail. It confirms the late hour, explains the warm and possibly drowsy atmosphere, and signals Luke’s eyewitness accuracy. The setting conveys the community’s earnestness: they have gathered despite inconvenience, crowding into an upper chamber for teaching and fellowship. The abundance of lamps also prepares us for what follows—Eutychus’s sleepiness and fall are not due to darkness but to human weariness. In God’s providence, the scene is set so that the miracle to come will be clear to all who saw and later heard about it.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

And there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

And there were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And there were a number of lights in the room where we had come together.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and there were many lamps in the upper chamber where they were gathered together,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And there were a great number of lamps in the upper chamber where we were assembled.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

And there were many lights in the upper room where we were assembled.

Context

This detail builds the sensory environment for the Troas gathering. We have the day (first of the week), the purpose (to break bread and hear Paul), the time (late at night), and now the lighting and location. The next verse will introduce Eutychus at the window and narrate his fall from the third story. Together these features heighten the realism of the account, leading into Paul’s descent, embrace, and announcement of life restored, and then the continuation of teaching until dawn.

v.7And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

v.8This passage

v.9And there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, borne down with deep sleep; and as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep he fell down from the third story, and was taken up dead.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Acts 1:13

    And when they were come in, they went up into the upper chamber, where they were abiding; both Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphæus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

  • Luke 22:12

    And he will show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

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