Acts Chapter 26 verse 24 Holy Bible

ASV Acts 26:24

And as he thus made his defense, Festus saith with a loud voice, Paul, thou art mad; thy much learning is turning thee mad.
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BBE Acts 26:24

And when he made his answer in these words, Festus said in a loud voice, Paul, you are off your head; your great learning has made you unbalanced.
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DARBY Acts 26:24

And as he answered for his defence with these things, Festus says with a loud voice, Thou art mad, Paul; much learning turns thee to madness.
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KJV Acts 26:24

And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
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WBT Acts 26:24


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WEB Acts 26:24

As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!"
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YLT Acts 26:24

And, he thus making a defence, Festus with a loud voice said, `Thou art mad, Paul; much learning doth turn thee mad;'
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 24. - Made his defense for spake for himself, A.V. (ἀπολογουμένου, as ver. 2); saith for said, A.V.; mad for beside thyself, A.V.; thy much for much, A.V.; turn thee to madness for make thee mad, A.V. With a loud voice. Another detail, betraying the eyewitness of the scene described. Thou art mad (μαίνῃ); Acts 12:15; John 10:20; 1 Corinthians 14:23. Much learning (τὰ πολλά γράμματα). So John 7:15, "How knoweth this man letters (γράμματα)?" is equivalent to Whence hath this man this wisdom? (Matthew 13:54). And ἀγράμματος ιν Acts 4:13 is "unlearned." The excited interruption by Festus shows that he was unable to accept the truths enunciated by the apostle. The ideas of fulfilled prophecy, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of a crucified Jew giving light to the great Roman world, were" foolishness unto him," because he lacked spiritual discernment. He thought the apostle's glowing words must be the outcome of a disordered mind. Turn thee to madness (εἰς μανίαν περιτρέπει). The word μανία (mania) occurs only here in the New Testament. But it is the technical name in medical writers for the disease of μανία, mania, and is also common in classical writers. The verb for "doth turn" (περιτρέπει) is also peculiar to St. Luke, being found only in this place. It is used by Plato, but specially by medical writers, as is also the substantive formed from it, περιτροπή, spoken of the "turn" taken by a disease, and the simple verb τρέπει and τρέπεται: e.g. ἔτρεψε γνώμην ἐς μανίην: ἐς σκυθρωππὸν ἡ μανίη τρέπεται: τοῖς μαινομένοισι ἄλλοτε μὲν ἐς ὀῤγὴν ἄλλοτε δὲ ἐς θυμηδίαν (mirth) ἡγνώμη τρέπεται, etc. (Hobart, p. 468).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(24) Festus said with a loud voice.--The description may be noted as one of the touches of vividness indicating that the writer relates what he had actually heard. The Roman governor forgot the usual dignity of his office, and burst, apparently, into a loud laugh of scorn.Much learning doth make thee mad.--The Greek gives a neuter plural: Thy many writings are turning thee to madness. The word was one which was used by the Jews for the collected body of their sacred writings and traditions, as in the "letters" of John 7:15 and the "holy Scriptures" of 2Timothy 3:15. Festus had probably heard the Law and the Prophets of Israel so described, and knew that St. Paul had with him "books and parchments" (2Timothy 4:13), which he was continually studying. That one who had been crucified should rise from the dead and give light to the Gentiles seemed to him the very hallucination of insanity. So have men at all times thought of those who lived after a higher law than their own, whether their faith rested, as in St. Paul's case, on an outward objective fact, or, as in Wisdom Of Solomon 5:4, on a true faith in the Unseen.