Acts 22:2

2 When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even quieter.

Acts 22:2 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 22:2

And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to
them (See Gill on Acts 21:40).

they kept the more silence;
it being their mother tongue, and which they best understood; and which the captain and the Roman soldiers might not so well under stand; and chiefly because the Hellenistic language was not so agreeable to them, nor the Hellenistic Jews, who spoke the Greek language, and used the Greek version of the Bible; and such an one they took Paul to be, besides his being a Christian; wherefore when they heard him speak in the Hebrew tongue, it conciliated their minds more to him, at least engaged their attention the more to what he was about to say:

and he saith;
the Syriac and Ethiopic versions add, "to them", as follows.

Acts 22:2 In-Context

1 "Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you."

2 When they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even quieter.

3 He continued, "I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and educated according to the strict view of our patriarchal law. Being zealous for God, just as all of you are today,

4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women in jail,

5 as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. Having received letters from them to the brothers, I was traveling to Damascus to bring those who were prisoners there to be punished in Jerusalem.