Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
Parallel Translations
-
Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
-
And I punysshed them ofte in every synagoge and compelled them to blaspheme: and was yet more mad apon them and persecuted the even vnto straunge cities.
-
And I punished them throughout all the Synagogues, and compelled them to blaspheme, and being more mad against them, I persecuted them, euen vnto strange cities.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Acts 26:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you.
- Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed.
- Acts 22:19 I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you.
- Acts 9:1 But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
- Acts 22:5 As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
- Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
- Mark 3:28 Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme;
- Mark 13:9 But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them.
- Luke 6:11 But they were filled with rage, and talked with one another about what they might do to Jesus.
- Luke 15:17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!
- Luke 21:12 But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
- Acts 18:6 When they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook out his clothing and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles!”
- Acts 26:24-25 As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!” But he said, “I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness.
- Hebrews 10:28-29 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think he will be judged worthy of who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
- James 2:7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
- 2 Peter 2:16 but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By extreme punishment.
By extreme punishment.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue,…
11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Ver. 11. Compelled them to blaspheme] So the ancient persecutors compelled many not only to renounce their religion, but to curse Christ. (Plin. Epist. ad Trajan.) When the Emperor Heraclius sent ambassadors to Chosroes, king of Persia, to desire peace of him, he received this threatening answer: I will not spare you, till I have made you curse your crucified God, and adore the sun. He was afterwards (like another Sennacherib) deposed and murdered by his son Siroes.
Read full note →
And being exceedingly mad, I persecuted] He was not then so mad in persecuting, but when God turned the stream, he was judged by some as mad in preaching, 2Co 5:13, and pressing toward tbe high prize which he persecuted (that is, his word, διωκω, Php 3:14) with as much eagerness as ever he had done God’s poor saints and servants.
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 Paul confesses that he compelled them to blaspheme, either:
Paul confesses that he compelled them to blaspheme, either:
1. By the torments he made them to be put unto; or:
Read full note →
2. By his own example; for he confessed that he had been a blasphemer himself, 1Ti 1:13.
This blasphemy was either:
1. Denying of Christ to be the Messiah; or:
2. Cursing or execrating of Christ, and acknowledging that he was justly condemned.
I persecuted them even unto strange cities; drove them out of Jerusalem and Judea; and, according to what Paul then believed, he drave them from the worship of the true God, and said in effect, as David’s adversaries when they expelled him from Jerusalem, Go, and serve other gods, 1Sa 26:19.
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 And I punished them oft in every synagogue,.... In…
And I punished them oft in every synagogue,.... In Jerusalem, where there were many; See Gill on Act 24:12; by beating and scourging them there, as the manner was; see Mat 10:17.
and compelled them to blaspheme; the Lord Jesus Christ, both to deny him to be the Messiah, and to call him accursed; as the Jews and Heathens obliged some professors of Christianity to do, who were only nominal ones, and had not grace and strength to stand against their threatenings, and to endure their persecutions:
Read full note →
and being exceeding mad against them; full of malice, envy, and hatred:
I persecuted them even to strange cities; particularly Damascus; and of his journey thither, he gives an account in the following verse; or through the violence of his persecution he obliged them to fly to strange cities, where they were foreigners and strangers; though he himself might not follow them there, since we do not read of his going anywhere but to Damascus; whereas they that were scattered by the persecution, in which he was concerned, travelled as far as Phenice, Cyprus, and Antioch, Act 9:19. The phrase may be rendered, "even to cities without"; i.e. without the land of Israel: frequent mention is made in Jewish writings of such and such cities being , "without the land".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I compelled them - That is, some of them;…
I compelled them - That is, some of them; to blaspheme - This is the most dreadful of all! Repent, ye enemies of the Gospel. If Spira, who was compelled, suffered so terribly, what will become of those who compel, like Saul, but do not repent like him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. Being exceedingly mad against them] Only a…
Verse 11. Being exceedingly mad against them] Only a madman will persecute another because of his differing from him in religious opinion; and the fiercest persecutor is he who should be deemed the most furious madman.
Unto strange cities.] Places out of the jurisdiction of the Jews, such as Damascus, which he immediately mentions.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And I punished them oft ... - See Act…
And I punished them oft ... - See Act 22:19.
And compelled them to blaspheme - To blaspheme the name of Jesus by denying that he was the Messiah, and by admitting that he was an impostor. This was the object which they had in view in the persecution. It was not to make them blaspheme or reproach God, but to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, and to reproach him as a deceiver and an impostor. It is not necessarily implied in the expression, “and compelled them to blaspheme,” that he succeeded in doing it, but that he endeavored to make them apostatize from the Christian religion and deny the Lord Jesus. It is certainly not impossible that a few might thus have been induced by the authority of the Sanhedrin and by the threats of Paul to do it, but it is certain that the great mass of Christians adhered firmly to their belief that Jesus was the Messiah.
Read full note →
And being exceedingly mad - Nothing could more forcibly express his violence against the Christians. He raged like a madman; he was so ignorant that he laid aside all appearance of reason; with the fury and violence of a maniac, he endeavored to exterminate them from the earth. None but a madman will persecute people on account of their religious opinions; and all persecutions have been conducted like this, with the violence, the fury, and the ungovernable temper of maniacs.
Unto strange cities - Unto foreign cities; cities out of Judea. The principal instance of this was his going to Damascus; but there is no evidence that he did not intend also to visit other cities out of Judea and bring the Christians there, of he found any, to Jerusalem.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Every synagogue—Not absolutely every, but any one where…
11. Every synagogue—Not absolutely every, but any one where the occasion offered. Synagogues were the places in which not only the sentence was pronounced, but the penalty was inflicted in order to maintain both the sanctity of the infliction, and to deter the spectators from like sin.
Compelled them—Greek, was compelling them, indicating a continuity of the practice. Compelling, or rather constraining, whether with successful result or not.
Read full note →
To blaspheme—To utter some imprecation on the sacred name or person of Jesus. The pagan persecutions of the martyrs were of the same atrocious character. Thus even the accomplished pagan philosopher Pliny wrote to the emperor: “They were required by my command to address the gods, and supplicate thy statue with incense and wine, and, besides, curse Christ, none of which, it is said, could those who were in fact Christians be constrained to do.”
11. Strange cities—Damascus; the plural again for the singular.
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 11. And I punished them oft in every synagogue]…
11. And I punished them oft in every synagogue] The Gk. continues with a participial construction, represented in Rev. Ver. “and punishing … in all the synagogues.” This closer representation of the original seems to add strength to the description of Saul’s former zeal as a persecutor. Of the synagogues as places where offenders were accused and punished, cp. Mat_10:17; Mat_23:34; Mar_13:9; Luk_12:11; Luk_21:12.
and compelled them to blaspheme] Rev. Ver. “I strove to make them blaspheme.” The verb is that which is frequently rendered “constrain” or “compel,” but being in the imperfect tense, it seems to signify that the attempt was repeated often, and needed to be so, for it was not in some cases successful. Saul kept on with his constraint. “To blaspheme,” i.e. the name of Jesus into which they had been baptized. They were to be forced to renounce the belief in the divinity of Jesus. Cp. on blasphemy of the divine Name, Lev_24:11-16.
Read full note →
even unto strange [R. V. foreign] cities] That is, cities outside the country of the Jews proper. So that, as it appears, Damascus was but one among several cities to which Saul had gone on his errand of punishment.
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 (11) Compelled them to blaspheme.—The verb is in the…
(11) Compelled them to blaspheme.—The verb is in the imperfect tense, which may express either continued or incomplete action. It does not follow, therefore, that any of the believers yielded to the pressure; and the words may be paraphrased, I went on trying to compel them.
Being exceedingly mad against them.—The words express, with a wonderful vividness, St. Paul’s retrospective analysis of his former state. It was not only that he acted in ignorance (1Ti_1:13), he might plead also the temporary insanity of fanaticism.
Read full note →
Even unto strange cities.—The words show that the mission to Damascus was not a solitary instance, and the persecution may well have raged in the regions of Samaria and Galilee through which the Apostle passed. (See Note on Act_9:3.)
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 Punishing them oftentimes in all the synagogues, I strove…
Punishing them oftentimes in all the synagogues, I strove to make them blaspheme for I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, A.V.; foreign for strange, A.V.. In all the synagogues. Those in Jerusalem, as the contrast of the foreign cities shows. (For the facts, see (Act_8:1, Act_8:3) I strove, etc. The "compelled" of the A.V. is the natural rendering of hjnagkazon (Mat_14:22; Luk_14:23; Act_28:19, etc.) but it does not necessarily follow that the compulsion was successful. It might be in some cases, and not in others. Pliny, in his letter to Trajan, says that those who were accused of being Christians cleared themselves by calling upon the gods, offering to the image of the emperor, and cursing Christ, none of which things, it is said, true Christians ("qui sunt revera Christiani") can be compelled to do ("Epist.," 10, 95, quoted by Kuinoel). Mad against them; ejmmainomenov aujtoiv, only here; but the adjective ejmmanhv, frantic, is not uncommon in classical writers.
The reckless rushing to assume the moral responsibilities of others an exceeding madness.
Read full note →
We are to understand this extraordinary verse to reveal rather what Paul confesses it was in his heart to do, and in the nature of his own actions to cause others to do, than what he succeeded in doing, in all respects. The two or three touches give us a wonderfully and strangely vivid picture. And suggest, not so much for Paul who confessed and forsook his evil way, but for many others who do neither the one nor the other, how suicidal their course, when, uncontent with the weight of their own responsibilities, they would presume to tamper with the conscience of others, and lade themselves with some share in all that is most dread of the moral nature of their fellows. Let us notice that those who will forcibly seek to interfere with the moral and religious convictions of others do
I RUN THE GREAT RISK OF INFLUENCING OTHERS TO SIN AGAINST THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE.
II PRESUME TO SUPPOSE THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE TO BE THE ABSOLUTELY SAFE STANDARD.
III EXPOSE THEMSELVES, ON NO GREATER WARRANT, TO STAYING A GOOD WORK THAT OTHERWISE WAS GROWING IN THE HEART OF ANOTHER.
IV VERY POSSIBLY AVAIL TO MAKE PRONOUNCED BLASPHEMERS, BACKSLIDERS, APOSTATES.
V BECOME AT LEAST STUMBLING-BLOCKS TO OTHERS, AND CAUSES OF LOSS AND PERHAPS OF INFINITE MENTAL PAIN AND DISASTROUS CONFLICT TO THEM. Against every one of these courted responsibilities Christ"s own clearest warnings are offered, and his calmest, most solemn judgments pronounced upon those who taught them. B.
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 9
See notes on verse 9
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.