Bible Strands
Acts 14:8
In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrative places a seated man in Lystra while Paul and Barnabas continue preaching the gospel in the surrounding area. This description occurs at the moment before Paul focuses his attention on the individual.
The words — The Greek term ἀδύνατος (adunatos) literally means "crippled" or "powerless," denoting his physical state. The phrase ἐν τοῖς ποσὶν (en tois posin) specifies that this condition is localized in his feet.
The thread — Congenital lameness appears in Acts 3:2 and John 5:3, where disabled individuals are positioned as stationary figures in public spaces. These passages establish a recurring pattern of those unable to walk being present where ministry activity occurs.
Why it lands — The text states the man's complete physical inability before any healing is attempted. It requires the reader to acknowledge that the subsequent intervention depends on divine action rather than any human preparation or merit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked:
Cross-references
- Acts 3:2 And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.
- John 5:3 On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.
- John 5:7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.”
- John 9:1 Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth,
- Acts 4:9 If we are being examined today about a kind service to a man who was lame, to determine how he was healed,