Acts Chapter 22 verse 28 Holy Bible
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this citizenship. And Paul said, But I am `a Roman' born.
read chapter 22 in ASV
And the chief captain said, I got Roman rights for myself at a great price. And Paul said, But I had them by birth.
read chapter 22 in BBE
And the chiliarch answered, *I*, for a great sum, bought this citizenship. And Paul said, But *I* was also [free] born.
read chapter 22 in DARBY
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
read chapter 22 in KJV
read chapter 22 in WBT
The commanding officer answered, "I bought my citizenship for a great price." Paul said, "But I was born a Roman."
read chapter 22 in WEB
and the chief captain answered, `I, with a great sum, did obtain this citizenship;' but Paul said, `But I have been even born `so'.'
read chapter 22 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 28. - Citizenship for freedom, A.V; am a Roman for was free, A.V. A great sum (πολλοῦ κεφαλαίου). The word is only found here in the New Testament in the sense of a "sum of money," but is so used in classical writers. Citizenship; πολιτεία, for "freedom of the city," in Xenophon, AElian, Polybius, Dion Cassius, etc., and 3Macc. 3:21. Dion Cassius (9 17) relates that Messaliua, the wife of the Emperor Claudius, used to sell the freedom of the city, and that at first she sold it (μεγάλων ξρημάτων) for a very high price, but that afterwards it became very cheap. In all probability Lysias had so purchased it, and in consequence took the name of Claudius (Renan, ' St. Paul,' p. 524). I am a Roman born. It is not known how St. Paul's family acquired the Roman citizenship.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(28) With a great sum obtained I this freedom.--Better, this citizenship, the word expressing, not the transition from bondage to freedom, but from the position of an alien to that of a citizen. Probably the translators used the word in the sense in which we still speak of the "freedom "of a city. The chiliarch was himself, apparently, an alien by birth, and, as was customary at the time, had obtained the citizenship by the payment of a large bribe. As the admission of citizens now rested with the Emperor, as holding the office of Censor, the money had probably been paid to Narcissus, or some other of Claudius' favourite freed-men who carried on a traffic of this kind.I was free born.--The Greek is somewhat more emphatic: I am one even from birth. This implies that St. Paul's father or grandfather had received the citizenship; how, we cannot tell. Many of the Jews who were taken to Rome by Pompeius as slaves first obtained their freedom and became libertini, and afterwards were admitted on the register as citizens. (See Note on Acts 6:9; Acts 16:37.) The mention of kinsmen or friends at Rome (Romans 16:7; Romans 16:11), makes it probable, as has been said, that the Apostle's father may have been among them.
