Acts 20:8
New International Version
There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.

New Living Translation
The upstairs room where we met was lighted with many flickering lamps.

English Standard Version
There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

Berean Standard Bible
Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

Berean Literal Bible
Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were assembled.

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

New King James Version
There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together.

New American Standard Bible
There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered together.

NASB 1995
There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.

NASB 1977
And there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together.

Amplified Bible
Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were assembled,

Christian Standard Bible
There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled,

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

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And there were many fire lamps there in an upper room in which we were gathered.

Contemporary English Version
In the upstairs room where we were meeting, there were a lot of lamps.

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

English Revised Version
And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where we were gathered together.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
(Many lamps were lit in the upstairs room where we were meeting.)

Good News Translation
Many lamps were burning in the upstairs room where we were meeting.

International Standard Version
Now there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.

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

Majority Standard Bible
Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered.

New American Bible
There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered,

NET Bible
(Now there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.)

New Revised Standard Version
There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting.

New Heart English Bible
There were many lights in the upper chamber where we were gathered together.

Webster's Bible Translation
And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were assembled.

Weymouth New Testament
Now there were a good many lamps in the room upstairs where we all were,

World English Bible
There were many lights in the upper room where we were gathered together.

Young's Literal Translation
and there were many lamps in the upper chamber where they were gathered together,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Eutychus Revived at Troas
7On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight. 8Now there were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.…

Cross References
Matthew 25:1
"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Acts 1:13
When they arrived, they went to the upper room where they were staying: Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

Acts 20:9
And a certain young man named Eutychus, seated in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell from the third story and was picked up dead.


Treasury of Scripture

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

in.

Acts 1:13
And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.

Luke 22:12
And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready.

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Assembled Chamber Gathered Good Lights Meeting Room Together Upper Upstairs
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Assembled Chamber Gathered Good Lights Meeting Room Together Upper Upstairs
Acts 20
1. Paul goes to Macedonia, and thence to Troas.
7. He celebrates the Lord's supper, and preaches.
9. Eutychus having fallen down dead is raised to life.
13. Paul continues his travels;
17. and at Miletum he calls the elders together, tells them what shall befall to himself,
28. commits God's flock to them,
29. warns them of false teachers,
32. commends them to God,
36. prays with them, and departs.














(8) And there were many lights in the upper chamber.--We learn from Acts 20:9 that it was on the third floor of the house. In the high narrow streets of Eastern towns the upper storey is often chosen for social or devotional purposes, partly as more removed from the noise of the street, partly as giving access to the roof of the house. Such a room in a good sized house might well hold two or three hundred people. It is a fair inference also that the vividness and minuteness of the account indicate that we have the narrative of an eye-witness. The lamps or torches (see Notes on Matthew 5:15; Matthew 25:3; John 5:35) are probably mentioned, partly as accounting for the sleep of Eutychus by the heat and closeness of the room, partly, perhaps, as an indirect answer to the calumny loudly asserted afterwards (Tertull. Apol. c. 8), and probably even then whispered, that at the meetings of the Christians the lamps were extinguished and free scope given for deeds of shameless licence. There is no ground for assuming that the lamps at this early period had any distinctive ritual or symbolic character, though it would be a natural expression of respect that two or more should be placed in front of the Apostle, or other presiding elder, at such a meeting, on either side of the loaf which was to be broken, and the cup which was to be blest. The position of the celebrant (to use a later, but convenient term) may have been, as in the original institution of the Supper, recumbent on the triclinium, or couch, which was at this time used by both Greeks and Romans. It is obvious, however, that this would be an inconvenient posture for distribution to a large assembly, and the special mention of "the Lord's table" in 1Corinthians 10:21, leads to the conclusion that there was a separate high table (to borrow the familiar language of a college or Inn of Court) at which the celebrant and other ministers sat, their backs to the wall, their faces to the people, and that from that table they distributed the bread and wine, either by taking them, or sending them by the deacons or other ministers, to those who sat in the body of the room, or by giving it to the congregation as they came up to the table in detachments. The later practice of the Church, and the absence of any indication in patristic writings that there was an abrupt change, makes the latter the more probable alternative. The table, so placed, served as a transition stage between the triclinium and the altar of the later basilica. The primitive arrangement in which the priest faces the congregation and stands behind the altar, it may be noted, was at first retained in most of the basilicas, and survives to the present day in some of the churches of that type in Rome--as, for example, in that of S. Clemente. This, therefore, and not any eastward or southward position, may claim to be, as has been well said, "at once the most primitive, the most Catholic, the most Protestant" of Eucharistic usages.

Verse 8. - We for they, A.V. and T.R. It is not obvious why St. Luke mentions the many lights. Some say to mark the solemnity of the first day of the week (Kuinoel); some, to remove all possible occasion of scandal as regards such midnight meetings (Bengel); some, to explain how the young man's fall was immediately perceived (Meyer); others, to account for the young man's drowsiness, which would be increased by the many lights, possibly making the room hot (Alford); for ornament (Olshausen). But possibly it is the mere mention by an eye-witness of a fact which struck him. It is obvious that the room must have been lit for a night meeting - only perhaps there were more lights than usual.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Now
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

there were
Ἦσαν (Ēsan)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

many
ἱκαναὶ (hikanai)
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 2425: From hiko; competent, i.e. Ample or fit.

lamps
λαμπάδες (lampades)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 2985: A torch, lamp, lantern. From lampo; a 'lamp' or flambeau.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

the
τῷ (tō)
Article - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

upper room
ὑπερῴῳ (hyperōō)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5253: Neuter of a derivative of huper; a higher part of the house, i.e. Apartment in the third story.

where
οὗ (hou)
Adverb
Strong's 3757: Where, whither, when, in what place. Genitive case of hos as adverb; at which place, i.e. Where.

we were
ἦμεν (ēmen)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

gathered.
συνηγμένοι (synēgmenoi)
Verb - Perfect Participle Middle or Passive - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 4863: From sun and ago; to lead together, i.e. Collect or convene; specially, to entertain.


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NT Apostles: Acts 20:8 There were many lights in the upper (Acts of the Apostles Ac)
Acts 20:7
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