Why does the crowd shout in the Lycaonian language?
Acts 14:11 (ESV)
11And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”
Many people living in Asia Minor spoke a local language as well as Greek.1 It is unlikely that Paul and Barnabas understood this language, thus it would have taken time for them to grasp what the people were saying and hoping to do in response to the miraculous healing of the lame man.2
11 And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”