Bible Strands
Acts 20:10
But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, and embraced him. “Do not be alarmed!” he said. “He is still alive!”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the grieving onlookers immediately after descending to the lower room where Eutychus fell from a third-story window. He speaks while physically holding the young man who was just recovered unconscious.
The words — The Greek καταβὰς (katabas) literally means "having descended," and συμπεριλαβὼν (sumperilabōn) means "having embraced." These participles frame Paul's physical movement toward the fallen youth and his subsequent contact.
The thread — This moment parallels Jesus’ declarations that the dead are merely sleeping in Mark 5:39 and Matthew 9:23. It also anticipates the resurrection theme where belief reveals God's glory in John 11:40.
Why it lands — The text commands immediate reassurance rather than mourning, establishing that the young man's condition is temporary. Readers are directed to recognize divine intervention in ordinary moments of crisis without adding emotional elaboration.
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 Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.
Cross-references
- Mark 5:39 He went inside and asked, “Why all this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but asleep.”
- John 11:40 Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
- Matthew 9:23 When Jesus entered the house of the synagogue leader, He saw the flute players and the noisy crowd.
- John 11:11 After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
- 1 Kings 17:21 Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!”
- 2 Kings 4:34 Then Elisha got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, and hand to hand. As he stretched himself out over him, the boy’s body became warm.
- Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.”