And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,
Parallel translations
- WEB When some of both the Gentiles and the Jews, with their rulers, made a violent attempt to mistreat and stone them,
- BSB But when the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, set out to mistreat and stone them,
- NKJV And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them,
- NASB And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to treat them abusively and to stone them,
- NLT Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them.
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
Gentiles, Jews, and their rulers plotted to abuse and stone the missionaries. Hostility to the gospel hardened into a coordinated threat of violence.
Overview
Former rivals united against the shared object of their hatred, a recurring irony in Acts where opposition to Christ unites otherwise divided groups. Stoning was the prescribed penalty for blasphemy, so the plot framed the gospel as an offense against God. The threat is real but, for now, escapes them, showing God's providential timing over His servants' lives.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Acts 14:19And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
- 2 Tim 3:11Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
- Acts 4:25–29Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
- Acts 17:5But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.
- Ps 2:1–3Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
- Luke 6:28Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
- Ps 83:5For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
- Matt 5:44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
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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.
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Original language
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