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and set up false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.
Acts 6:13 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
  • BSB where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.
  • NKJV They also set up false witnesses who said, “This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law;
  • NASB They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking against this holy place and the Law;
  • NLT The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses.

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

False witnesses accuse Stephen of constantly speaking against the temple and the law. The charges twist his witness to Christ into apparent blasphemy.

Overview

The accusations distort Stephen's preaching that Christ fulfills and transcends temple and law. Like the false witnesses against Jesus, they take a kernel of his teaching and pervert it. Stephen's coming speech will answer by showing from Scripture that God was never confined to the temple.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Acts 6:11Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
  • Acts 21:28crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Moreover, he also brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place!”
  • Ps 56:5All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil.
  • Matt 24:15“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
  • Ps 27:12Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.
  • Acts 25:8while he said in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I sinned at all.”
  • Ps 35:11Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
  • Acts 7:58They threw him out of the city, and stoned him. The witnesses placed their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (11)

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 6:13YouTube · 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 6:13 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.