And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
And Paul [said] (This bracketed word should be printed in Italics, as required in the translation, but not in the original, according to the best authorities),
I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, [kai (G2532) en (G1722) oligoo (G3641) kai ( G2532) en (G1722) polloo ( G4183)] - literally, 'both in little and in much such as I am;' or, according to the reading best supported (and adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles), 'both in little and in great' [megaloo (G3173 ), excellently rendered in the Vulgate, et in modico et in magno]. Whichever of these readings we adopt, the sense is the same, that whereas Agrippa had gone so far as to say (with how much sincerity, the apostle would not choose to inquire) that he was a little drawn to the apostle's views, that magnanimous servant of Christ, seizing upon the admission, and repeating the very words of it, wishes to God that not Agrippa only, but the whole audience, were not only in little, but in much (or in great), such as he was; that is, not somewhat a Christian, but out-and-out a Christian.
In this view of the words it will at once be seen that they express only in another form, both what the King James Version conveys, and what the other rendering does not-`In a little [time] thou wilt persuade me to be a Christian;' while it avoids the objections we have mentioned against this latter translation, and what seems a want of strict grammatical warrant for the King James rendering. The only one of the proposed translations which it does not agree with is the ironical one, which, though so powerfully contended for, appears to us to be wholly out of place. The objection taken to the King James Version (and equally applicable to ours) by the advocates of the ironical sense-that the word "Christian" was at that time only a term of contempt, and therefore not likely to have been used seriously by Agrippa-has no force except on the other side; for, taking it seriously, the sense, according to the King James Version is, 'Thou wilt soon have me over'-or, according to our proposed version, 'I feel myself beginning to come over to that despised sect.'
Except these bonds - doubtless holding up his two chained hands (see the note at Acts 12:6), which, in closing such a noble utterance, must have had an electrical effect.