Libertines

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

Libertines: This word, which occurs once only in the New Testament-- (Acts 6:9) --is the Latin libertini , that is, "freedmen." They were probably Jews who, having been taken prisoners by Pompey and other Roman generals in the Syrian wars, had been reduced to slavery and had afterward been emancipated, and returned, permanently or for a time, to the country of their fathers.

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