I was confronted recently with a text in the bible that I couldn’t really answer. In Acts 9, when Jesus appeared to the apostle Paul, it says, and I quote: the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. Yet, in Acts 22, it says they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. How do you reconcile these two accounts?
Thanks for your question! This is a perfect example where it’s important to look closely at either the translation of the Greek by examining the Greek text itself or a different translation. Notice the difference in the New American Standard Bible:
The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. (Acts 9:7)
And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. (Acts 22:9)
In the account of chapter 9, Paul uses the term ‘akouostes” which is to be taken more literally as to hear something. In Acts 22, the world for hearing is different. This time when recounting his testimony, he uses the term “ekousan” which means to understand the voice. We know that this rendering makes sense because the voice used the Hebrews rendering of Saul’s name “Saoul, Saoul” to call him out rather than the Greek rendering which tells us that the men could hear the voice but they didn’t understand Hebrew. So, they both heard the voice but didn’t “hear” the voice in understanding its language.
The Moncton Herald 