Envy’s Cat’s Paw

When Paul and Silas came to Thessaloncia, they preached very effectively in the synagogue for three sabbaths running. When the leaders of the Jews there saw just how effective they were, they were stirred up by envy, and assembled a mob (Acts 17:5). The KJV renders their raw material for the uproar as “lewd fellows of the baser sort.” The word underneath “baser sort” is agoraios, and is translated by the ESV as “rabble.” This particular evil refers to worthless fellows who hang around with time on their hands, waiting to be employed by the envious evil that resides uptown.