And when the Jews ... - There is a great variety in the mss. on this verse, and in the ancient versions. Griesbach and Knapp read it, “And when they were gone out, they besought them that these words might be spoken, etc.” The Syriac reads it, “When they departed from them, they sought from them that these words might be spoken to them on another Sabbath.” The Arabic, “Some of the synagogue of the Jews asked of them that they would exhort the Gentiles with them, etc.” If these readings be correct, then the meaning is, that some of the Jews exhorted the apostles to proclaim these truths at some other time, particularly to the Gentiles. The mss. greatly vary in regard to the passage, and it is, perhaps, impossible to determine the true reading. If the present reading in the English translation is to be regarded as genuine of which, however, there is very little evidence the meaning is, that a part of the Jews, perhaps a majority of them, rejected the message, and went out, though many of them followed Paul and Barnabas, Acts 13:43.
The Gentiles besought - This expression is missing in the Vulgate, Coptic, Arabic, and Syriac versions, and in a great many mss. (Mill). It is omitted by Griesbach, Knapp, and others, and is probably spurious. Among other reasons which may be suggested why it is not genuine, this is one, that it is not probable that the Gentiles were in the habit of attending the synagogue. Those who attended there were called “proselytes.” The expression, if genuine, might mean either that the Gentiles besought, or that they besought the Gentiles. The latter would be the more probable meaning.
The next sabbath - The margin has probably the correct rendering of the passage. The meaning of the verse is, that a wish was expressed that these doctrines might be repeated to them in the intermediate time before the next Sabbath.