They came to the chief priests and the elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.
Parallel Translations
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They came to the chief priests and the elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves under a great curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.
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And they cam to the chefe prestes and elders and sayde: we have boude oure selves with a vowe that we will eate nothinge vntill we have slayne Paul.
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And they came to the chiefe Priestes and Elders, and said, We haue bound our selues with a solemne curse, that wee will eate nothing, vntill we haue slaine Paul.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Acts 23:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 23:12 When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
- Jeremiah 8:12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed. They couldn’t blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they will be cast down, says Yahweh.
- Psalms 52:1-2 Why do you boast of mischief, mighty man? God’s loving kindness endures continually. Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- Isaiah 3:9 The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Hosea 4:9 It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.
- Micah 7:3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.
- Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore they will fall among those who fall. When I visit them, they will be cast down,” says Yahweh.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 14. They came to the chief priests. Seeing that…
14. They came to the chief priests. Seeing that the priests agree to such a wicked and ungodly conspiracy, by this they prove that there was in them neither any fear of God, neither yet any humanity. They do not only allow [approve] that which is brought before them concerning the murdering of the man by laying wait, but also they are ready to be partners in the murder, that they may deliver him into the hands of the murderers, whom they would have made away some way, they pass not how. For what other thing was it to take a man out of the hands of the judge and to slay him, than like murderers to rage even in the very place of judgment? The priests surely would never have allowed [approved] such a wicked purpose if there had been in them any drop of godly and right affection, or of humane feeling. Moreover, they did what they could to bring destruction upon all the people and themselves also. But the Lord did by this means disclose their wicked impiety, which lay hid under a color of honor.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 14 And they came to the chief priests and…
14 And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.
Ver. 14. And they came to the chief priests and elders] With whom they knew they should hereby ingratiate. Rulers’ vices as seldom go unattended as their persons. If Herod mock Christ, his men of war will do so too, Luk 23:11; "If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked," Pro 29:12.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain They came to the chief priests and elders, whose…
They came to the chief priests and elders, whose place and office it was to have dissuaded such an abominable murder: For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, Mal 2:7. And they could not but have been guilty of the blood of St. Paul, had it been shed, who by encouraging the design became accessory unto it. But they had drank blood very largely before now; viz. the blood of St. Stephen, and the blood of our Saviour; and it is no wonder that they thirst for more: such wild beasts, (rather than men), when they have once tasted of blood, are never satisfied with it. But at what a low ebb was religion, when the chief priests themselves combine with assassins!
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now therefore ye with the council,.... The whole sanhedrim;…
Now therefore ye with the council,.... The whole sanhedrim; their sense is, that they would have the sanhedrim convened by the chief priests and elders, and being met together, then to
signify to the chief captain; or let him know that they were assembled together, upon the affair of Paul, and that they here desirous he might be brought before them:
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that he bring him down unto you tomorrow; from the castle of Antonia to the place where the sanhedrim met; the word "tomorrow" is not in the Alexandrian copy, nor in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; and then it should seem that they desired him to be brought down forthwith, or otherwise they must propose to fast all that day, and so long on the morrow, till Paul was brought down; but that the common reading is right, appears from the chief captain's sending away Paul at the third hour of the night following, to prevent their designs on the morrow, Act 23:23. The pretence formed for his being brought down is,
as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerning him; what he had done, which had occasioned this uproar, what it was he was charged with, and whether he was guilty or not:
and we, or ever he come near: where the sanhedrim sat;
are ready to kill him; lying in wait in some private place between the castle and the temple, from whence they intended to rush out at once upon him, and murder him; far enough both from the temple and the council, that both the one might not be defiled, though they did not greatly stick at that in those times, and that the other might not be charged with having any hand in his death.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Act 23:14-15. And they came to the chief priests…
Act 23:14-15. And they came to the chief priests and elders — Who were of the sect of the Sadducees, and Paul’s greatest enemies, telling them what they had done; and desiring them to ask the chief captain to bring Paul down to the council on the morrow, as if they wished to inquire something more perfectly concerning him, and we, (said they,) or ever he come near, are ready to kill him — And we will manage the attack in such a manner, that you shall not appear at all concerned in it; nor have any alarm about the matter, till you hear that he is actually dead. Josephus mentions a case not much unlike this, of some that bound themselves with an oath to kill Herod; in which they gloried as a laudable intention, because he had violated the ancient customs of their nation. It is no wonder, therefore, that these Jews should make no scruple of acquainting the chief priests and elders with their conspiracy against the life of Paul; who, indeed, were so far from blaming them for it, that not long after they renewed the same design themselves. See Act 25:2-3.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And they came ... - Probably by a deputation.
And they came ... - Probably by a deputation.
To the chief priests and elders - The members of the Great Council, or Sanhedrin. It is probable that the application was made to the party of the Sadducees, as the Pharisees had shown their determination to defend Paul. They would have had no prospect of success had they attacked the castle, and they therefore devised this mode of obtaining access to Paul, where they might easily despatch him.
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Under a great curse - Greek: “We have anathematized ourselves with an anathema.” We have made the vow as solemn as possible.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 14. Chief priests and elders—Those high dignitaries would not…
14. Chief priests and elders—Those high dignitaries would not reject such assassination. Taking advantage of the extraordinary example of Phineas, son of Eleazer, the gravest Jewish writers, the Talmud, Josephus, and Philo, maintain the right of summary assassination of apostates from God. Thus the last of these writers, as quoted by Hackett, says, “All who have a zeal for virtue should have a right to punish with their own hands, without delay, those who are guilty of this crime; not carrying them before a court, council; or magistrate, but regarding themselves for the time as judges and executioners.” These appalling authorizations of assassination of course would lead to the dissolution of society. The Sicarii, encouraged by Felix and by such countenance as the Sanhedrists now gave, arose in great numbers, and their daggers did the work of destruction in detail on all supporters of moderate counsels, and led the nation to its final catastrophe. (See our Historical Review, Act_21:17, § 4.) So awful is the warning against encouragement of lawless violence and secret assassination in any civilized community. Especially in a free government law should be at once just and supreme.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. they came to the chief priests and elders]…
14. they came to the chief priests and elders] Who were most likely of the Sadducees’ part, and who therefore would have no wish to save St Paul’s life.
We have bound ourselves under a great curse] Lit. “with a curse have we cursed ourselves.” A Hebrew mode of expressing the intensity and earnestness of any action. Cp. “to die the death, &c.”
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that we will eat nothing] More literally (with Rev. Ver.) “to taste nothing.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) They came to the chief priests and elders.—It…
(14) They came to the chief priests and elders.—It will be remembered that the high priest Ananias had already shown the rough brutality of his nature in his treatment of St. Paul, and was now, we can scarcely doubt, impelled by the spirit of revenge. It lies on the surface that those to whom the conspirators went were the Sadducean party in the Council, not the more moderate and cautious Pharisees.
We have bound ourselves under a great curse.—The Greek follows the Hebrew idiom in expressing intensity by the reduplication of the leading word. laterally, We have anathematised ourselves with an anathema.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The elders for elders, A.V.; to taste for that…
The elders for elders, A.V.; to taste for that we will eat, A.V.; killed for slain, A.V. The chief priests, etc. Meaning, no doubt, those who were of the party of the Sadducees, to which the chief priests mainly belonged at this time. A great curse. There is nothing in the phraseology of this verse, as compared with that of ver. 12, to warrant the introduction of the word "great." It is simply, "We have anathematized ourselves with an anathema."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 12
See notes on verse 12
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Here the word "They" refers to the forty Jews in Acts 23:13.
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General Information:
Here "you" is plural and refers to the chief priests and elders. (See: Forms of You)
General Information:
Both "us" and "we" refer to the forty Jews who planned to kill Paul. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
We have put ourselves under a great curse, to eat nothing until we have killed Paul
To make a vow and to ask God to curse them if they do not fulfill their vow is spoken of as if the curse were an object that they carry on their shoulders. AT: "We have sworn to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. We asked God to curse us if we do not do what we promised to do" (See: Metaphor)
Now, therefore
"Because what we have just said is true" or "Because we have put ourselves under this curse"
Now
This does not mean "at this moment," but is used to draw attention to the important point that follows.
bring him down to you
"bring Paul from the fortress to meet with you"
as if you would decide his case more precisely
"as though you want to learn more about what Paul has done"
translationWords
chief priests
elder
curse
Paul
council
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.