Acts 10:28, Quoting Ancient Poets

For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said

//These words are spoken by Paul in the book of Acts. Are you curious who he is quoting?

It’s credited to Epimenides, who lived six centuries before Paul. Here is another quote, supposedly written by Paul:

One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. –Titus 1:12

These quotes both originate from the same “poem,” known as Cretica addressing not the Hebrew god but Zeus. Here are the original words that made it into our Bible:

They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,

Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.

But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,

For in you we live and move and have our being.

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