Man living at the time of the New Testament
Bar-Jesus, also known as Elymas, was a Jewish sorcerer who tried to hinder Paul and Barnabas' ministry.
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Also known as Bar-Jesus · Elymas
Bar-Jesus, also called Elymas, was a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet encountered by Paul and Barnabas during their missionary journey on the island of Cyprus (Act.13.6-12). He was associated with Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of the island, who had summoned Paul and Barnabas to hear the word of God. However, Elymas opposed the apostles and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, rebuked Elymas for his deceit and obstruction of the truth, declaring that he would be temporarily blinded. Immediately, Elymas lost his sight, and the proconsul, seeing what had happened, believed and was astonished at the teaching about the Lord. The name "Elymas" is said to mean "magician" or "sorcerer," while "Bar-Jesus" means "son of Jesus" or "son of Joshua." This incident demonstrates the power of the gospel over spiritual opposition and the consequences of resisting God's message.
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Son of Joshua, the patronymic of Elymas the sorcerer (Acts 13:6), who met Paul and Barnabas at Paphos. Elymas is a word of Arabic origin meaning “wise.”
BAR-JE'SUS was a magician who resided with Sergius Paulus at Paphos, on the isle of Cyprus, when Paul and Barnabas were there. Acts 13:6. He is also known by his Arabic designation Elymas the Sage. Sergius Paulus was an officer of high rank under the Roman government, and was anxious to receive religious instruction from the two missionaries. But Bar-jesus, seeing that his occupation and influence would cease wherever the light of the gospel should come, opposed himself to Paul and Barnabas, and tried to dissuade Paulus from giving heed to their preaching. Paul gave him a most severe reproof, immediately after which the wicked man was struck with temporary blindness as a rebuke from God. See Sergius Paulus.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
2 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s G0919
They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, where they found a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus,
But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.