From the early Church Fathers to now.
3 Patristic · 2 Reformed · 1 Methodist · 1 Catholic
“And when they had gone through the whole island, as far as Paphos, they found a certain man, a magician, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesu:”
“Both he and that other magician, who was with Sergius Paulus, (since he began opposing himself to the same apostles) was mulcted with loss of eyes. The same fate, I believe, would astrologers, too, have met, if any had fallen in the way of the apostles.”
“Smitten were both Ananias and Elymas -Ananias with death, Elymas with blindness-in order that by this very fact it might be proved that Christ had had the power of doing even such (miracles).”
“"And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith." Again a Jew sorcerer, as was Simon. And observe this man, how, while they preached to the others, he did not take it much amiss, but only when they approached the proconsul. And then in respect of the proconsul the wonder is, that although prepossessed by the man's sorcery, he was nevertheless willing to hear the Apostles. So it was with the Samaritans: and from the competition the victory appears, the sorcery being worsted. Everywhere, vainglory and love of power are a (fruitful) source of evils!”
“And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos,.... The Alexandrian copy, and the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "the whole isle"; for through the midst of the whole island they must go, to go from Salarnis to Paphos; for Salamis was on the east, and Paphos on the west of the islands (q): it had its name from the Phoenician word, , "peathpaoth", "the corner of corners"; because both old and new Paphos were situated in the extreme part of the island; and not from Paphus, the son of Pygmalion, by any ivory statue which he had made, whom Venus, at his request, according to the fables of the Heathens, turned into a woman: some say (r), that Cinyras, a king of the Assyrians, coming into Cyprus, built Paphos; but Pausanias (s) affirms, that Agapenor, who came hither after the Trojan war, was the builder of this place, and also of the temple of Venus in it, for which it was famous (t); and in a certain area of which, Pliny (u) says it never rained; and from this place, Venus was called Paphia: according to Chrysostom, it was the metropolis of Cyprus; and it is indeed mentioned by Pliny (w), first of the fifteen cities that were in it; and seems at this time to have been the seat of the Roman deputy Paulus Sergius, afterwards spoken of: concerning this place Jerom says (x), "Paphus, a city on the sea coast, in the island of Cyprus, formerly famous for the sacred rites of Venus, and the verses of the poets; which fell by frequent earthquakes, and now only shows, by its ruins, what it formerly was:'' so Seneca (y) says, "quotiens in se Paphus corruit?", "how often has Paphus fell within itself?" that is, by earthquakes: the ruins of many goodly churches and buildings are to be seen in it; and the walls of a strong, and almost impregnable tower, situated upon a hill in the middle of the city, supposed to be the habitation of Sergius Paulus; there is also shown, under a certain church, a prison divided into seven rooms, where they say Paul and Barnabas were imprisoned, for preaching the Gospel; what remains of it, is now called Bapho: here they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus, or the son of Jesus; Jesus was a name frequent among the Jews, and is the same with Joshua, and was in use long before our Saviour's time; there was Jesus the son of Sirach, the author of Ecclesiasticus, and who had a grandfather of the same name, the Syriac version here calls him "Barsuma", which some render "the son of a name"; that is, a man of note, a famous person, of great renown; others, "the son of a swelling", or "the son of ulcers"; he professing to be a physician, and to cure them, with which they make the name of Barjesus to agree, deriving it from a root, which signifies to heal: Jerom (z) pronounces this name Barieu, and observes, that some corruptly read it Barjesu; and he makes it to signify an evil man, or one in evil; and Drusius says, he found the name "Barjeou", in some papers of his; and a very learned man (a) of later years says, it is the same with Bar-Jehu, the son of Jehu; and affirms, that the Greek word is "Barjeus", which others wrongly turn into "Bar-jesus"; the Magdeburgensian Centuriators call him, "Elymas Barjehu"; the reason Beda gives, why it should be so read, and not Bar-jesus, is because that a magician was unworthy to be called the son of Jesus, the Saviour, when he was a child of the devil; but the Greek copies agree in Barjesus; his name shows him to be a Jew, as he is here called: and he was one of those false prophets our Lord said should arise, and deceive many; he pretended to foretell things to come, and practised sorcery, and was given to magic arts. (q) Ptolom. Geograph. l. 5. c. 14. (r) Apollodorus de deorum orig. l. 3. p. 193. (s) Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 461. (t) Philostrat. Vita Apollonii, l. 3. c. 16. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 96. (w) Ib. l. 5. c. 31. (x) De locis Hebraicis, fol. 96. F. & Vita Hilarion, fol. 86. C. (y) Ep. 91. (z) De nominibus Hebraicis, fol 105. 1. (a) Hileri Onomasticum Sacrum, p. 760.”
“Gone through the isle - Ὁλην, The Whole isle, is added here by ABCDE, several others, both the Syrian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Vulgate, and Itala; and also by several of the Greek fathers; and this must be the true reading, for it is evident they ran through the whole island from east to west. Unto Paphos - This town, next in importance to Salamis, was situated on the western part of the isle; and having gone from Salamis to this place is a proof that they had gone through the whole island from east to west, according to the reading noticed above. There was probably no town in the universe more dissolute than Papas. Here Venus had a superb temple: here she was worshipped with all her rites; and from this place she was named the Paphian Venus, the queen of Paphos, etc. This temple and whole city were destroyed by an earthquake; so that a vestige of either does not now remain. There are two islands which go by this name, both adjoining, and on the west side of the island of Cyprus. One is called Old Paphos, the other New Paphos; the latter is probably the island here mentioned, though they are often confounded. On this island there is a Christian Church, dedicated to St. George, in which service is performed by the Greek ministers. It is a bishop's see, suffragan to the Abp. of Nicosia. A certain sorcerer - Τινα μαγον, A magician, one who used magical arts, and pretended to have commerce with supernatural agents. A person who dealt in sleight of hand, or leger-de-main. Such as I have supposed Simon Magus to be. See the note on Act 8:9. A false prophet - A deceiver, one who pretended to have a Divine commission, a fortune teller. Bar-Jesus - That is, the son of Jesus or Joshua; as Bar-jona is the son of Jonah; Bar-tholomew, the son of Thalmi, etc.”
“A magician … whose name was Bar-jesu, son of Jesus, or Josue. In Arabic, Elymas is the same as magician. This man did all he could to dissuade the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, from embracing the Christian faith. (Witham) — Salamina was the capital of the island of Cyprus, and at the eastern extremity, as Paphos was at the western. A. D. 45.”
“when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos--on the opposite or west side of the island, about one hundred miles by land, along the south coast; the Roman capital, where the governor resided. they found a . . . sorcerer--one of a numerous class of impostors who, at this time of general unbelief, were encouraged even by cultivated Romans.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.