But when the Jews spoke against it, I was constrained to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything about which to accuse my nation.
Parallel Translations
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But when the Jews spoke against it, I was constrained to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything about which to accuse my nation.
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But when the Iewes cryed contrary I was constrayned to appeale vnto Cesar: not because I had ought to accuse my people of.
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But when the Iewes spake contrary, I was constrained to appeale vnto Cesar, not because I had ought to accuse my nation of.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Acts 28:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 26:32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
- Acts 25:10-12 But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also know very well. For if I have done wrong and have committed anything worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die; but if none of those things is true that they accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!” Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go.”
- Acts 25:21 But when Paul had appealed to be kept for the decision of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept until I could send him to Caesar.”
- Acts 25:25 But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and as he himself appealed to the emperor I determined to send him,
- 1 Peter 2:22-23 who didn’t sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.” When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 19. I was enforced to appeal. This appeal was…
19. I was enforced to appeal. This appeal was full of hatred and envy for this cause, because the authority and liberty of the Jewish nation did seem to be sore opprest, who could have been content to have lived with their own laws. Secondly, because his defense was joined with infamy and loss of all the people. Therefore he answereth this objection also, because he was enforced with the stubbornness of his enemies to fly to this fortress [asylum]. For he is excused by necessity, because he had no other way to escape death. And after that he had excused that which was done already, he promiseth that he will so handle his matter hereafter, that he will not labor against the Jews.
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.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain We may use the means which God giveth us,…
We may use the means which God giveth us, but so that we seek the glory of God, and not ourselves.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 19 But when the Jews spake against it, I…
19 But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought to accuse my nation of.
Ver. 19. To accuse my nation of] But to defend Christ’s cause and mine own innocence, with as little reflex on the Jews as may be. It is an ill business to defame a whole nation (one’s own especially), as Scaliger, that proud hypercritic, who gave this base and unmannerly character, Gothi belluae, Scoti non minus, Angli perfidi, inflati, feri, contemptores, stolidi, amentes, inertes, inhospitales, immanes. The Goths are beasts, so are the Scots. As for the English, they are perfidious, proud, fierce, scornful, fools, madmen, sluggards, inhospitable, cruel.
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 The Jews spake against it; the Jews used all…
The Jews spake against it; the Jews used all their oratory and interest against Paul, both before Felix and Festus. And had it been in Festus’s power, (which after Paul’s appeal it was not), he would have sacrificed Paul to the malice of the Jews; and by that means got their favour, whom he had so incensed against them.
Not that I had aught to accuse my nation of; Paul did not so much want matter, as mind, to accuse the Jews; and he declares, that whatsoever he had suffered, his intentions were not to calumniate them, but to vindicate himself.
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 But when the Jews spake against it,.... His being…
But when the Jews spake against it,.... His being cleared and dismissed, and desired he might be sent back to Jerusalem, to be tried and judged there, to which Festus seemed inclined:
I was constrained to appeal to Caesar; to prevent the design of the Jews upon him, which was to way lay him and kill him, or by what ways they could, right or wrong, take away his life; and to provide for his own safety:
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not that I had ought to accuse my nation of; meaning, that he had no ill design in this appeal against his country, to expose them, and bring them under reproach and censure, but to vindicate himself, defend his own innocence, and preserve his character and life; suggesting, that what he did was not of choice, but by constraint, and with reluctance; being no friend to Heathen tribunals, nor any enemy to the Jewish nation.
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 When the Jews opposed it - He speaks tenderly…
When the Jews opposed it - He speaks tenderly of them, not mentioning their repeated attempts to murder him. Not that I had any thing to accuse my nation of - Not that I had any design to accuse others, but merely to defend myself.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The Jews spake against it - Against my being…
The Jews spake against it - Against my being set at liberty.
I was constrained - By a regard to my own safety and character.
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To appeal unto Caesar - See the notes on Act 25:11.
Not that I had aught ... - I did it for my own preservation and safety, not that I wished to accuse my countrymen. Paul had been unjustly accused and injured; yet, with the true spirit of the Christian religion, he here says that he cherished no unkind feelings toward those who had done him wrong.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain I was constrained to appeal . . . not…
I was constrained to appeal . . . not that I had aught to accuse my nation of--"I am here not as their accuser, but as my own defender, and this not of choice but necessity." His object in alluding thus gently to the treatment he had received from the Jews was plainly to avoid whatever might irritate his visitors at the first; especially as he was not aware whether any or what information against him had reached their community.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. Not… accuse my nation—The fact of his being…
19. Not… accuse my nation—The fact of his being compelled to appeal implicated the heads of his nation; but he repudiates the feeling or purpose of accusing. The terms brethren, constrained, my nation, all indicate the deep affection for his kinsmen expressed in his epistle to the Romans, and his burning desire to win them to the Gospel. (Rom_9:1-6.)
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 19. not that I had ought to accuse my…
19. not that I had ought to accuse my nation of] St Paul shews himself the patriotic Jew. He knew how many things his fellow-countrymen had suffered at the hands of the Roman power, and he did not wish in any way to bring on them any more trouble. He therefore explains that he had taken the course of appealing to Cæsar only because he saw no other means of obtaining his release. If that were secured he wished to lay no charge at the door of his accusers or their brethren in Rome.
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain When the Jews spake against it. This is a…
When the Jews spake against it. This is a detail not expressly mentioned in the direct narrative in Acts 25., but which makes that narrative clearer. It shows us that Festus"s proposal in Act_25:9 was made in consequence of the opposition of the Jews to the acquittal which he was disposed to pronounce. I was constrained to appeal. Nothing can be more delicate, more conciliatory, or more truly patriotic than Paul"s manner of addressing the Jews. Himself a Hebrew of the Hebrews, devoted to his kinsmen according to the flesh, never even putting forward his own privilege as a Roman citizen till the last necessity, he shows himself the constant friend of his own people in spite of all their ill usage. Undazzled by the splendor of Rome and the power of the Roman people, his heart is with his own despised nation, "that they might be saved." He wishes to he well with them; he wants them to understand his position; he speaks to them as a kinsman and a brother. His appeal to Caesar had been of necessity to save his life. But he was not going to accuse his brethren before the dominant race. His first desire was that they should be his friends, and share with him the hope of the gospel of Christ.
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 17
See notes on verse 17
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 the Jews
the Jews
This does not mean all of the Jews. AT: "the Jewish leaders" (See: Synecdoche)
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spoke against their desire
"complained about what the Roman authorities wanted to do"
I was forced to appeal to Caesar
This can be stated in active form. AT: "I had to ask for Caesar to judge me" (See: Active or Passive)
although it is not as if I were bringing any accusation against my nation
The abstract noun "accusation" can be stated as the verb "accuse." Here "nation" stands for the people. AT: "but it was not because I wanted to accuse the people of my nation before Caesar" (See: Active or Passive and Metonymy)
the certain hope of Israel
Possible meanings are 1) the people of Israel confidently expect the Messiah to come or 2) the people of Israel confidently expect God to bring those who have died back to life.
Israel
Here "Israel" stands for the people. AT: "the people of Israel" or "the Jews" (See: Metonymy)
that I am bound with this chain
Here "bound with this chain" stands for being a prisoner. AT: "that I am a prisoner" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Jew
Caesar
accuse
nation
Israel
confidence
bind
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.