Now the crowd, seeing what Paul had done, lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have become like men and come down to us!”
For you are not sent to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult tongue, but to the house of Israel,
The people were shouting, “The voice of a god and not a human!”
And they began calling Barnabas “Zeus” and Paul “Hermes” (because he was the main speaker).
But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding countryside.
They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead—but after they waited a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and began to say he was a god.
They all were paying special attention to him, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called ‘Great.’”