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‘Look, you scoffers, and be astonished, and perish; For I am accomplishing a work in your days, A work which you will never believe, though someone should describe it to you.’ ”
Acts 13:41 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB ‘Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no way believe, if one declares it to you.’”
  • KJV Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
  • BSB ‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish! For I am doing a work in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”
  • NKJV ‘Behold,you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’ ”
  • NLT ‘Look, you mockers, be amazed and die! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.’”

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

He cites Habakkuk: scoffers who will not believe God's astonishing work will perish. Persistent unbelief leads to ruin.

Overview

Paul quotes Habakkuk 1:5, where God warned of a work so startling the scoffers would not credit it. Originally pointing to judgment through the Babylonians, the words now warn against rejecting the greater work of the gospel. The citation underscores that to despise God's saving act in Christ is to court destruction.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 25

  • Hab 1:5“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.
  • 1 Pet 4:17For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Good News of God?
  • Rom 11:7–14What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.
  • Isa 28:14–22Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:
  • Col 1:26–27the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,
  • Matt 22:7–10When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
  • Prov 5:12and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
  • Matt 21:41–44They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”
  • Acts 13:47For so has the Lord commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.’”
  • 1 Th 2:16forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
  • Luke 21:20–26“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is at hand.
  • Eph 3:3–8how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words,
  • Heb 10:28–30A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.
  • Matt 23:34–38Therefore behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;
  • Luke 16:14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.
  • Prov 1:24–32Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;
  • Matt 8:10–11When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.
  • Acts 6:14For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place, and will change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”
  • Dan 9:26–27After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.
  • Isa 65:15You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name,
  • Acts 22:21“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”
  • Isa 5:24Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
  • Acts 3:23It will be that every soul that will not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
  • Luke 19:42–44saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
  • Luke 23:35The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Acts videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Acts 13:41YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ActsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 13:41 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.