‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
Parallel translations
- WEB But I said, ‘Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’
- KJV But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.
- NKJV But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’
- NASB But I said, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
- NLT “‘No, Lord,’ I replied. ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Peter objected that he had never eaten anything unclean. His protest shows his lifelong loyalty to the law.
Overview
Peter's refusal reveals a devout Jew who had carefully kept the dietary laws his whole life. His hesitation makes clear that the change to come was God's doing, against Peter's own instincts. The exchange demonstrates that only divine authority could overturn such deeply held practice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Rom 14:14I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
- Hos 9:3They will not remain in the land of the LORD; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria.
- 1 Cor 7:14For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his believing wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
- Lev 10:10You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean,
- Lev 11:47You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.’”
- Ezra 9:11–12that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end.
- Mark 7:2and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 11:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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