A Jewish sorcerer and false prophet, also called Bar-Jesus, attached to the household of the proconsul Sergius Paulus on Cyprus. When the proconsul sent for Barnabas and Saul to hear the word of God, Elymas opposed them and tried to turn him from the faith. Paul, filled with the Spirit, looked straight at him and called him a son of the devil and enemy of all righteousness, and told him he would be blind for a time — and mist and darkness fell on him at once.
ScholarlyLuke supplies a gloss for the name Elymas, but its etymology is genuinely disputed among scholars, with proposals connecting it to a Semitic root for wise/learned (Arabic alim) or treating it as a title for a magus rather than a personal name; he is also identified as Bar-Jesus, an Aramaic patronymic meaning son of Jesus/Joshua.
Onomastic crux discussed in Acts commentaries (e.g. Barrett, Fitzmyer); no consensus derivation.
Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!”
Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
Born · Paphos(today Paphos, Cyprus) Photo: Dmitry Panov — CC BY 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
In art
La conversione del Proconsole ossia l'accecamento di Elima, bottega di Pieter van Aelst su cartone di Raffaello, 1517-19 -FG (cropped) · Fabrizio Garrisi — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Conversion of the Proconsul - Blinding of Elymas (Acts of the Apostles tapestries - Vatican series) · Pieter van Aelst — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)151 Galleria Nazionale delle Marche (Urbino), tapís gobelí de l'Encegament d'Elimes i lleó de Sant Marc · Enric — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Acta Apostolorum (Acts of the Apostles) · After: Jan van der Straet
Published by: Philips Galle — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)De dood van Herodes Agrippa en Paulus slaat Barjezus met blindheid Herodes door eenen Engel geslagen en Paulus slaat Elymas met blindheyd (titel op object), RP-P-1878-A-1892 · Rijksmuseum — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Degas - Aveuglement d'Elymas, RF 43146, Recto · Edgar Degas — Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)Elymas (also known as Bar-Jesus) the magician is rendered bl · Unknown artist — CC BY 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Elymas door Paulus met blindheid getroffen, RP-P-OB-70.750 · Rijksmuseum — CC0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
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