Mar 8:12, Joh 11:33, 13:21, Act 17:16 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 12. Sighed deeply in his spirit . His soul, his heart, was deeply affected at their wickedness and hypocrisy. The word spirit , here, means human soul. He drew groans deeply from his breast. No sign be given . That is, no such sign as they asked--to wit, a sign from heaven . He said a sign should be given, the same as was furnished by Jonas, . But this was not what they asked, nor would it be given because they asked it.

Mark 8:12

Verse 12. Sighed deeply in his spirit. His soul, his heart, was deeply affected at their wickedness and hypocrisy. The word spirit, here, means human soul. He drew groans deeply from his breast.

No sign be given. That is, no such sign as they asked--to wit, a sign from heaven. He said a sign should be given, the same as was furnished by Jonas, Mt 16:1. But this was not what they asked, nor would it be given because they asked it.

John 11:33

Verse 33. He groaned in the spirit. The word rendered groaned, here, commonly denotes to be angry or indignant, or to reprove severely, denoting violent agitation of mind. Here it also evidently denotes violent agitation--not from anger, but from grief. He saw the sorrow of others, and he was also moved with sympathy and love. The word groan usually, with us, denotes an expression of internal sorrow by a peculiar sound. The word here, however, does not mean that utterance was given to the internal emotion, but that it was deep and agitating, though internal.

In the spirit. In the mind. See Acts 19:21: "Paul purposed in the spirit "--that is, in his mind, Mt 5:3.

Was troubled. Was affected with grief. Perhaps this expression denotes that his countenance was troubled, or gave indications of sorrow (Grotius).

(2) "was troubled" or, "he troubled himself"

John 13:21

Verse 21. Trouble in spirit. See Jn 12:27. The reason of his trouble here was that Judas, a professed friend, was about to betray him. He doubtless foresaw the deep and dreadful sorrows of his approaching death, and was also deeply affected with the ingratitude and wickedness of a professed friend. Jesus was man as well as God, and he felt like other men. His human nature shrank from suffering, and his tender sensibilities were affected not less deeply than would be those of other men by baseness and treason.

Testified. He bore witness to the truth; openly declared what he had before intimated -- that one of them would betray him.

(q) "When Jesus had thus said" Mt 26:21, Mk 14:18, Lk 22:21

Acts 17:16

Verse 16. Now while Paul waited. How long he was there is not intimated; but doubtless some time would elapse before they could arrive. In the mean time, Paul had ample opportunity to observe the state of the city.

His spirit was stirred in him. His mind was greatly excited. The word used here παρωξυνετο denotes any excitement, agitation, or paroxysm of mind, 1Cor 13:5. It here means that the mind of Paul was greatly concerned, or agitated, doubtless with pity and distress, at their folly and danger.

The city wholly given to idolatry. Greek, κατειδωλον. It is well translated in the margin, "full of idols." The word is not elsewhere used in the New Testament. That this was the condition of the city is abundantly testified by profane writers. Thus Pausanias (in Attic. i. 24) says, "The Athenians greatly surpassed others in their zeal for religion" Lucian (T. i. Prometh. p. 180) says of the city of Athens," On every side there are altars, victims, temples, and festivals." Livy (45, 27) says, that Athens "was full of the images of gods and men, adorned with every variety of material, and with all the skill of art." And Petronius (Sat. xvii.) says humourously of the city, that "it was easier to find a god than a man there." See Kuin�el. In this verse we may see how a splendid, idolatrous city will strike a pious mind. Athens then had more that was splendid in architecture, more that was brilliant in science, and more that was beautiful in the arts, than any other city in the world; perhaps more than all the rest of the world united. Yet there is no account that the mind of Paul was filled with admiration; there is no record that he spent his time in examining the works of art; there is no evidence that he forgot his high purpose in an idle and useless contemplation of temples and statuary. His was a Christian mind; and he contemplated all this with a Christian heart. That heart was deeply affected in view of the amazing guilt of a people that were ignorant of the true God, and that had filled their city with idols reared to the honour of imaginary divinities; and who, in the midst of all this splendour and luxury, were going down to the gates of death. So should every pious man feel who treads the streets of a splendid and guilty city. The Christian will not despise the productions of art; but he will feel, deeply feel, for the unhappy condition of those who, amidst wealth and splendour and adorning, are withholding their affections from the living God, bestowing them on the works of their own hands, or on objects degraded and polluting, and who are going unredeemed to eternal woe. Happy would it be if every Christian traveller who visits cities of wealth and splendour would, like Paul, be affected in view of their crimes and dangers; and happy if, like him, men could cease their unbounded admiration of magnificence and splendour in temples and palaces and statuary, to regard the condition of mind, not perishable like marble; and of the soul, more magnificent even in its ruins than all the works of Phidias or Praxiteles.

(d) "his spirit" Ps 119:136, 2Pet 2:8 (1) "wholly given to idolatry" "full of idols"