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Acts 13 · a question people ask

"the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind" (13:11). Why did Elymas become blind?

In the text

Acts tells it in Paul's words and its own. Elymas "withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith" (13:8). "But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him" (13:9) and said, "You son of the devil, full of all deceit and all cunning, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?" (13:10), and "Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!" (13:11). Acts gives no reason beyond these words. It tells what happened: "Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand." (13:11). Paul says "for a season", and Acts says nothing more of Elymas after this verse. The next verse is about the proconsul: "Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord." (13:12). These notes add no explanation, and set no other blindness beside it.

From Favor's study of Acts 13

Acts 13: Good news of the promise

In a synagogue, just after "the reading of the law and the prophets" (13:15), Paul said that those in Jerusalem didn't know "the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath", and "fulfilled them by condemning him" (13:27). "But God raised him from the dead" (13:30).

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Last reviewed October 7, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions