Acts 20:36
And when he had said these things, kneeling down, he prayed with them all.
Open Acts 20:36 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et cum hæc dixisset, positis genibus suis oravit cum omnibus illis.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- Καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν θεὶς τὰ γόνατα αὐτοῦ σὺν πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς προσηύξατο.
The Fathers on this verse
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XLV on Acts xx. 32
What he does when writing in an Epistle, this he does also when speaking in council: from exhorting, he ends with prayer: for since he had much alarmed them by saying, “Grievous wolves shall enter in among you” ( v. 29 ), therefore, not to overpower them, and make them lose all self-possession, observe the consolation (he gives). “And now,” he says, as always, “I commend you, brethren, to God, and to the word of His grace:” that is, to His grace: it is grace that saveth. He constantly puts them in mind of grace, to make them more earnest as being debtors, and to persuade them to have confidence. “Which is able to build you up.” He does not say, to build, but, “to build up,” showing that they had (already) been built. …
The Ecumenical Councils The First Ecumenical Council: The First Council of Nice, Canon XX
All the churches did not, however, adopt this practice; for we see in the Acts of the Apostles ( xx. 36 and xxi. 5 ) that St. Paul prayed kneeling during the time between Pentecost and Easter.