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But God raised Him from the dead, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
Acts 2:24 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
  • KJV Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
  • BSB But God raised Him from the dead, releasing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for Him to be held in its clutches.
  • NKJV whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
  • NLT But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.

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

God raised Jesus, freeing Him from death because death could not hold Him. It proclaims the resurrection as God's vindication of His Son.

Overview

The resurrection is presented as God's mighty act overturning the verdict of the cross. Death 'could not hold' Jesus because of who He is and God's purpose for Him. This victory over death is the foundation of the believer's hope and forgiveness.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 40

  • 1 Cor 6:14Now God raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power.
  • Acts 2:32This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.
  • 1 Pet 1:21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.
  • Col 2:12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
  • Rom 8:11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
  • Rom 6:4We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
  • 2 Cor 4:14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will present us with you.
  • John 10:18No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”
  • Heb 13:20Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
  • Eph 1:20which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,
  • 1 Th 1:10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead — Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.
  • Rom 10:9that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
  • Acts 17:31because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
  • Acts 13:30But God raised him from the dead,
  • John 2:19–21Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
  • Rom 4:24but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
  • Acts 3:15and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, to which we are witnesses.
  • Luke 24:1–53But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they and some others came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.
  • Gal 1:1Paul, an apostle (not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead),
  • Acts 3:26God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
  • Acts 13:37But he whom God raised up saw no decay.
  • Rev 1:18and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
  • Ps 116:16Yahweh, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your servant. You have freed me from my chains.
  • John 20:9For as yet they didn’t know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
  • Acts 13:33–34that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your father.’
  • Ps 116:3–4The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
  • Acts 4:10be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in him does this man stand here before you whole.
  • Acts 10:40–41God raised him up the third day, and gave him to be revealed,
  • 1 Cor 15:15Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.
  • 1 Cor 15:12Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
  • Isa 26:19Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.
  • Rom 14:9For to this end Christ died, rose, and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
  • Rom 8:34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
  • Matt 27:63saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’
  • John 12:39For this cause they couldn’t believe, for Isaiah said again,
  • Isa 25:8He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken it.
  • Isa 53:10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
  • Hos 13:14I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.
  • Heb 2:14Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
  • John 10:35If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken),

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

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 2:24YouTube · 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 2:24 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.