Acts10:44

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Translation

While PETER was still speaking these words,

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the Holy Spirit fell upon

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all of those hearing the spoken manifestation of truth.

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Paraphrase

While SOLID AS A ROCK was explaining these matters, the Holy Spirit pressed Himself upon them and seized their minds and their inner beings, taking temporary control of all those who heard the manifestation of the truth which answered their question and uncovered something that had been concealed form them up until that moment.

Footnotes

1

This is the Greek word for “words” and was considered “a sound uttered by a living voice, having definite meaning;” it was used of “a matter, a topic, a report, a business dealing, a command.”

2

This word means “to fall upon, to press upon, to seize, to take possession of.” “Fall” is the key idea behind this word.

3

This is a form of the word applied to Jesus in John 1:1 where He is called “the word,” i.e. the manifestation or revelation of God. This is the second time that this verse uses a word meaning “word,” but they are different Greek words; the first one is general and means “to cover a topic,” this one is specific to revealing something that needs to be revealed, something that has been hidden or held back up until this moment.

The Septuagint’s rendering of verses in the Old Testament Law that speak of the Urim and the Thummim uses a form of this same word for the breastplate, or the pouch (e.g. “the pouch of decision” in Ex 28:20). It is an interesting usage because the word means “a divine communication or revelation” but in those cases it was used of something that housed the means for acquiring a revelation from God, a decision about an hidden matter, and then the proper action.