Acts 13:18

American Standard Version (1901)

And for about the time of forty years as a nursing-father bare he them in the wilderness.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Καὶ ὡς τεσσαρακονταετῆ χρόνον ἐτροποφόρησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.

Transliteration

And for about tessarakontaetē chronon etropophōrēsen them in the erēmō.

Grammar Details

• *hōs*: adverb - about/approximately
• *tessarakontaetē*: accusative, masculine, singular - forty-year
• *chronon*: accusative, masculine, singular - time/period
• *etropophōrēsen*: aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular - bore with their manners
• *autous*: accusative, masculine, plural - them
• *en*: preposition - in
• *erēmō*: dative, feminine, singular - wilderness

Word Meanings

• *hōs*: about/approximately/as
• *tessarakontaetē*: forty-year
• *chronon*: time/period
• *etropophōrēsen*: bore with their manners/endured their conduct/cared for them like a nurse
• *erēmō*: wilderness/desert/uninhabited region

Referenced Verses

• Acts 7:36 : 36 This man led them forth, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness forty years.
• Deut 9:7 : 7 Remember, forget thou not, how thou provokedst Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou wentest forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah.
• Deut 9:21-24 : 21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount. 22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath. 23 And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice. 24 Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you.
• Neh 9:16-21 : 16 But they and our fathers dealt proudly and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to thy commandments, 17 and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not. 18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; 19 yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud departed not from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. 20 Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. 21 Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, [and] they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.
• Ps 78:17-42 : 17 Yet went they on still to sin against him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert. 18 And they tempted God in their heart By asking food according to their desire. 19 Yea, they spake against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? 20 Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams overflowed; Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people? 21 Therefore Jehovah heard, and was wroth; And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also went up against Israel; 22 Because they believed not in God, And trusted not in his salvation. 23 Yet he commanded the skies above, And opened the doors of heaven; 24 And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven. 25 Man did eat the bread of the mighty: He sent them food to the full. 26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by his power he guided the south wind. 27 He rained flesh also upon them as the dust, And winged birds as the sand of the seas: 28 And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their habitations. 29 So they did eat, and were well filled; And he gave them their own desire. 30 They were not estranged from that which they desired, Their food was yet in their mouths, 31 When the anger of God went up against them, And slew of the fattest of them, And smote down the young men of Israel. 32 For all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works. 33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, And their years in terror. 34 When he slew them, then they inquired after him; And they returned and sought God earnestly. 35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their redeemer. 36 But they flattered him with their mouth, And lied unto him with their tongue. 37 For their heart was not right with him, Neither were they faithful in his covenant. 38 But he, being merciful, forgave [their] iniquity, and destroyed [them] not: Yea, many a time turned he his anger away, And did not stir up all his wrath. 39 And he remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. 40 How oft did they rebel against him in the wilderness, And grieve him in the desert! 41 And they turned again and tempted God, And provoked the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remember not his hand, Nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
• Ps 95:8-9 : 8 Harden not your heart, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness; 9 When your fathers tempted me, Proved me, and saw my work. 10 Forty years long was I grieved with [that] generation, And said, It is a people that do err in their heart, And they have not known my ways: 11 Wherefore I sware in my wrath, That they should not enter into my rest.
• Ps 106:13-29 : 13 They soon forgat his works; They waited not for his counsel, 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tempted God in the desert. 15 And he gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul. 16 They envied Moses also in the camp, [And] Aaron the saint of Jehovah. 17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, And covered the company of Abiram. 18 And a fire was kindled in their company; The flame burned up the wicked. 19 They made a calf in Horeb, And worshipped a molten image. 20 Thus they changed their glory For the likeness of an ox that eateth grass. 21 They forgat God their Saviour, Who had done great things in Egypt, 22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, [And] terrible things by the Red Sea. 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy [them] . 24 Yea, they despised the pleasant land, They believed not his word, 25 But murmured in their tents, And hearkened not unto the voice of Jehovah. 26 Therefore he sware unto them, That he would overthrow them in the wilderness, 27 And that he would overthrow their seed among the nations, And scatter them in the lands. 28 They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, And ate the sacrifices of the dead. 29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their doings; And the plague brake in upon them.
• Ezek 20:10-17 : 10 So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my statutes, and showed them mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live in them. 12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah that sanctifieth them. 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they rejected mine ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. 15 Moreover also I sware unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16 because they rejected mine ordinances, and walked not in my statutes, and profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them, and I destroyed them not, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
• Amos 5:25-26 : 25 Did ye bring unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 26 Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
• Acts 7:39-43 : 39 to whom our fathers would not be obedient, but thrust him from them, and turned back in their hearts unto Egypt, 40 saying unto Aaron, Make us gods that shall go before us: for as for this Moses, who led us forth out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him. 41 And they made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, Did ye offer unto me slain beasts and sacrifices Forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 43 And ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, And the star of the god Rephan, The figures which ye made to worship them: And I will carry you away beyond Babylon.
• 1 Cor 10:1-9 : 1 For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and did all eat the same spiritual food; 4 and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ. 5 Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9 Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. 10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer.
• Heb 3:7-9 : 7 Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith, To-day if ye shall hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tried [me] by proving [me], And saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, And said, They do always err in their heart: But they did not know my ways;
• Heb 3:16-19 : 16 For who, when they heard, did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? 17 And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? 19 And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.
• Exod 16:2 : 2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness:
• Exod 16:35 : 35 And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
• Num 14:22 : 22 because all those men that have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
• Num 14:33-34 : 33 And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation.
• Deut 1:31 : 31 and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that Jehovah thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came unto this place.