9 And there came a great cry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' part having arisen, were striving, saying, `No evil do we find in this man; and if a spirit spake to him, or a messenger, we may not fight against God;'
`And it came to pass when I returned to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the temple, I came into a trance, and I saw him saying to me, Haste and go forth in haste out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive thy testimony concerning me;
I fell also to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute?
and having withdrawn, they were speaking unto one another, saying -- `This man doth nothing worthy of death or of bonds;'
and I, having found him to have done nothing worthy of death, and he also himself having appealed to Sebastus, I decided to send him,
And the scribes and the Pharisees, having seen him eating with the tax-gatherers and sinners, said to his disciples, `Why -- that with the tax-gatherers and sinners he doth eat and drink?'
and we all having fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute? hard for thee against pricks to kick! `And I said, Who art thou, Lord? and he said, I am Jesus whom thou dost persecute; but rise, and stand upon thy feet, for for this I appeared to thee, to appoint thee an officer and a witness both of the things thou didst see, and of the things `in which' I will appear to thee, delivering thee from the people, and the nations, to whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, to turn `them' from darkness to light, and `from' the authority of the Adversary unto God, for their receiving forgiveness of sins, and a lot among those having been sanctified, by faith that `is' toward me. `Whereupon, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
for there stood by me this night a messenger of God -- whose I am, and whom I serve --
And he saith unto David, `More righteous thou `art' than I; for thou hast done me good, and I have done thee evil;
if then the equal gift God did give to them as also to us, having believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, I -- how was I able to withstand God?'
and having fallen upon the earth, he heard a voice saying to him, `Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute?'
And he a third time said unto them, `Why, what evil did he? no cause of death did I find in him; having chastised him, then, I will release `him'.'
said unto them, `Ye brought to me this man as perverting the people, and lo, I before you having examined, found in this man no fault in those things ye bring forward against him; no, nor yet Herod, for I sent you back unto him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is having been done by him;
and the scribes and the Pharisees among them were murmuring at his disciples, saying, `Wherefore with tax-gatherers and sinners do ye eat and drink?'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 23
Commentary on Acts 23 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 23
The close of the foregoing chapter left Paul in the high priest's court, into which the chief captain (whether to his advantage or no I know not) had removed his cause from the mob; and, if his enemies act there against him with less noise, yet it is with more subtlety. Now here we have,
Act 23:1-5
Perhaps when Paul was brought, as he often was (corpus cum causa-the person and the cause together), before heathen magistrates and councils, where he and his cause were slighted, because not at all understood, he thought, if he were brought before the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, he should be able to deal with them to some good purpose, and yet we do not find that he works at all upon them. Here we have,
Act 23:6-11
Many are the troubles of the righteous, but some way or other the Lord delivereth them out of them all. Paul owned he had experienced the truth of this in the persecutions he had undergone among the Gentiles (see 2 Tim. 3:11): Out of them all the Lord delivered me. And now he finds that he who has delivered does and will deliver. He that delivered him in the foregoing chapter from the tumult of the people here delivers him from that of the elders.
Act 23:12-35
We have here the story of a plot against the life of Paul; how it was laid, how it was discovered, and how it was defeated.