Acts 14:13

Priest of Jupiter. The sense of this passage seems to be, “the priest of the local Zeus [located] in front of the city.” Thus Zeus was the tutelary divinity of Lystra, and his temple apparently stood near the gate of the city, as if to protect it. It was to the priest of Zeus that the people ran with their cry, and brought him, with all the preparations for a sacrifice, to the entrance of the house where the apostles were lodged.

Garlands. Such garlands are familiar from ancient sculptures. Usually of white wool, they were sometimes decorated with leaves and flowers. Priests, attendants, doors, and altars, as well as sacrificial animals, were often adorned in this way.

The gates. Gr. pulines, a word that may refer either to the gates of a house (see ch. 12:14) or of another building, or of a city (see Rev. 22:14). In the present instance the word has been interpreted by some to mean the gate of the house where Paul and Barnabas were lodging. However, it is probably better to refer the word either to the gates of the city or perhaps to the entrance to the local temple to Zeus (see above on “priest of Jupiter”).

Done sacrifice. The act of sacrifice probably would have consisted of cutting the throats of the oxen and pouring some of their blood upon an altar.