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The phrase from the Bible (Acts 16:16) Paul and Silas in Prison:

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.

If I rephrase it removing were and by it still makes sense. Does she approached them? Was the meeting planned and that's why it took by? If they simply met her, why put by? Also, I think you meet with someone when it's planned and you meet someone if it's unplanned (I met Nancy - accidentally; I met with Nancy - planned). If the meeting was planned, shouldn't it be with there?

Also, how do we say the same thing in future continuous tense? "We will be meeting by [someone]"? Why not "We'll be meeting someone", which looks more convincing.

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  • In your example, a female slave is the center; "we" is the background, I suppose. She is expecting "us".
    – Kinzle B
    Apr 19, 2014 at 13:27
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    Off-topic, I think. Translations vary between active and passive here; it's a matter of trying to capture various nuances in the original Greek. On the one hand, I don't think you should read anything into the choice; on the other, I don't think anyone but a scholar of New Testament Greek is competent to address this.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Apr 19, 2014 at 13:41
  • The phrase "met by" can work in certain contexts (in general, it refers to a chance meeting), but NOT in future continuous tense. You'll probably have a hard time finding any example of "We will be meeting by someone" other than this question.
    – J.R. ♦
    Apr 19, 2014 at 14:06
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    The future continuous of this, which is a passive construction, is we will be being met by....
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Apr 19, 2014 at 14:17
  • Best to go back to the original Greek.
    – KCH
    Apr 19, 2014 at 17:37

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I won't try to address why the translation chose one way over another, just the different nuances available.

In the passive voice ("we were met by X"), the other person is the active agent; they came looking for us. (We may have been in or moving through the area, not expecting anyone, or we may have been waiting for them.)

In the active voice ("We met X"), we are the active agents; the meeting was the result of our arrival or motion. It can be a chance meeting, or it can be a planned get-together. (I would say that for a chance meeting, the phrasal verb "ran into" would be the more likely wording in modern usage, but "met" is certainly possible.)

For the future tense you generally would say "We will be meeting X" or "we will be meeting with X" for the active voice, or "we will be met by X" when X is the one who will be actively seeking you out.

You really cannot say "We will be meeting by (person)" because in the active voice,'meet' always uses either nothing or "with".

As StoneyB says, the future continuous tense is "we will be being met by X", but that's a very awkward phrasing and not at all likely to be used.

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