Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said - `taking his stand in the midst of Mars' hill (or 'Areopagus'), said.' This prefatory allusion to the position he occupied shows (says Baumgarten) the writer's wish to bring the situation vividly before us.
Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious, х hoos (G5613) deisidaimonesterous (G1174)] - rather (with nearly all modern as well as ancient Greek interpreters), 'extremely devout,' 'very god-fearing,' 'much given to religious worship;' a conciliatory and commendatory introduction, founded on his own observation of the symbols of devotion with which their city was covered, and from which all Greek writers, as well as the apostle, inferred the exemplary religiousness of the Athenians. The King James translation (though it only follows the Vulgate, Erasmus, and Luther) is here extremely unfortunate; inasmuch as it not only implies that only too much superstition was blameable, but represents the apostle as repelling his bearers in the very first sentence: whereas the whole discourse is studiously courteous. It is true that the word, in classical usage, is capable of either a favourable or an unfavourable sense; but just for that reason ought the nature of the case to decide in favour of the former.