Acts Chapter 9 verse 15 Holy Bible
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel:
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But the Lord said, Go without fear: for he is a special vessel for me, to give to the Gentiles and kings and to the children of Israel the knowledge of my name:
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And the Lord said to him, Go, for this [man] is an elect vessel to me, to bear my name before both nations and kings and [the] sons of Israel:
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But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
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read chapter 9 in WBT
But the Lord said to him, "Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.
read chapter 9 in WEB
And the Lord said unto him, `Be going on, because a choice vessel to Me is this one, to bear My name before nations and kings -- the sons also of Israel;
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 15. - A chosen vessel (comp. Galatians 2:15; Romans 9:21, 22). To bear my name before the Gentiles (see Acts 22:21; Acts 26:17, 18; Romans 15:16; Galatians 2:7-9, etc.) and kings (Acts 25; Acts 26; 2 Timothy 4:16, 17, with reference to Nero), and the children of Israel. The Gentiles are named before the children of Israel, because St. Paul's special call was to be the apostle of the Gentiles. But we know that even St. Paul's practice was to preach Christ to the Jews first, in every city where there were Jews.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(15) He if a chosen vessel unto me.--Literally, a vessel of election. The term has nothing directly analogous to it in the Old Testament, but it is Hebrew in its form; the second noun being used as a genitive of the characteristic attribute, and so equivalent to an intensified adjective. So in Isaiah 22:7, we have in the LXX. "valleys of election" for the "choicest valleys" of the English version. The term "vessel" is used in the Old Testament of arms (Genesis 27:3), of garments (Deuteronomy 22:5), of household goods (Genesis 31:36-37). In the New Testament its range of meaning is yet wider, as in Matthew 12:29; Luke 8:16; John 19:29; Romans 9:22; 2Corinthians 4:7. Here our word "instrument" or "implement" comes, perhaps, nearest to its meaning. The persecutor had been chosen by the Lord as the "tool" with which He would work out His gracious will for him and for the Gentiles. In this sense it was used by classical writers of useful and trusty slaves, just as we speak of one man being the "tool" of another. Possibly, however, the words may be interpreted as containing the germ of the parable of the potter's vessel on which St. Paul dwells in Romans 9:21-23, and implied that the convert was not only chosen, but moulded, for his future work. The word "election," which occurs here for the first time in the New Testament, and is afterwards so prominent in the teaching of St. Paul (Romans 9:11; Romans 11:5; Romans 11:7-8; 1Thessalonians 1:4), affords yet another instance of the influence exercised on the Apostle by the thoughts and language of the instructor through whom alone he could have learnt what is here recorded. . . .
