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37. ὁ δὲ Παῦλος ἔφη πρὸς αὐτούς, but Paul said unto them, i.e. to the lictors, through the jailor. It is highly probable that the conversation of the Roman officers would be in Latin, and that the proceedings of the previous day may have been conducted in that language. In this way, if Paul and Silas were unfamiliar with the Latin speech, we might account for the non-mention or the disregard of their Roman citizenship. If either the Apostle did not comprehend all that was going on or could not, amid the confusion of such a tumultuous court, make himself understood, the message which he now sends to the magistrates might have had no chance of being heard before the scourging was inflicted.
δείραντες ἡμᾶς δημοσίᾳ, having beaten us publicly. For no doubt they had been lashed to the palus or public whipping-post in sight of all the people.
ἀκατακρίτους, uncondemned. There had been no reality of a trial, no attempt to get at the truth. For all that had been listened to was the charge of the accusers, who, leaving out all mention of the real reason of their charge, viz. that they had lost a source of money-making, put forward the plea that the missionaries were disturbers of public law and order. The crowd shouted with the accusers, and the magistrates, forgetting their position, joined with the mob (Act 16:22) in the assault on the Apostles.
ἀνθρώπους Ῥωμαίους ὑπάρχοντας, men that are Romans. This is in marked contrast with the charge of the accusers, which ran, ‘These men, being Jews.’ The laws which had been violated by this act were the Lex Valeria (B.C. 508) and the Lex Porcia (B.C. 300). On the outrage, compare Cicero’s language in the Verrine orations (v. 66), ‘Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum, scelus verberari, prope parricidium necari.’
λάθρα ἡμᾶς ἐκβάλλουσιν; are they thrusting us out privily? The Apostle would say, Our punishment was in public, let our dismissal be public too.
οὐ γάρ, ἀλλά. The explanation of this combination of particles appears to be to understand the previous question as a refusal to come forth = ‘We will not be thrust out privily. For that is not what ought to be, but let them come,’ &c. So that the ‘Nay verily’ of A.V. gives the sense very well.