Acts 10:16
in Acts 10This happened three times, and all at once the sheet was taken back up into heaven.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven.
KJV
This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.
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This verse in Acts 10
Commentary
15 notes on this verseFor the things made clean are made clean not by a single invocation nor by a second, but unless a third invocation is pronounced, no one is cleansed. For unless you were cleansed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, you could not be clean.
This site's exposition
Not so, Lord
on Acts 10:14-16
Peter's refusal, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean, answers a direct command with an objection, the same combination of address and resistance Ananias had shown back in chapter nine. The second answer, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common, corrects the category itself rather than simply overruling Peter's scruple, and Peter will apply the same principle to people rather than food only a few verses later in this same chapter. The vision repeats three times, the number Scripture uses elsewhere to mark certainty, before the sheet is received back up into heaven, leaving Peter to puzzle over what he has just been shown.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Perhaps kneeling he had seen the vision: therefore the voice also said to him, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." But it showed that what he had seen was divine by reason of his being raised into a trance of mind, and because the voice descended …
That the voice was heard a third time likewise shows the truth of the vision itself. It is clear, however, that he did not wish the utterance to be understood as concerning all foods when he says, "I have never eaten anything common or unclean," …
Three times the voice of the Lord resounds. This is repeated for [our] salvation: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit do this together. Arius, contentious against this faith, fell by denying that the One is in three Persons; Sabellius admitted the One, …
"This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven." For, that it may not seem to be a mere fancy, "this was done thrice." And yet it was the same Lord that had discoursed above in the Law concerning things clean and unclean. But in that sheet were also all the four-footed beasts of the earth: the clean with the unclean.
Peter exhorts that the brutal and irrational sort of people be sacrificed, so that once they are cleansed what remains may become edible. The account of piety is delivered plainly, not once the divine voice having said that what God has sanctified is not common, …
8 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
The earth is the sheet, and the creatures in it are the beasts, those from the nations. And the "kill and eat," because those too must be admitted. And the third to happen is this, the baptism. But as Peter was in confusion, the men …
The Medieval Church3 voices
Now this happened three times, because the mystery of the Holy Trinity was to be preached by the twelve apostles to the four parts of the world, therefore four lines were let down from heaven a third time. Or as blessed Ambrose interprets, the figure …
And immediately the vessel was received into heaven. After the third submission, the sheet is taken up to heaven, because after the conversation of this world, in which the Church sojourns purified by faith and baptism, the blessed and eternal heavenly habitation follows.
And that three times he confessed that the animals there were unclean. And the fact that the vessel descended from heaven and ascended back there — this is a great proof of purity. So this is accomplished for those to whom it is to be …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Christ has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, and there we shall find, besides those that are sealed out of all the tribes of Israel, an innumerable company out of every nation ( Rev. vii. 9 ); but they are such as God has cleansed.
This was done thrice,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
This was done thrice - For the greater certainty, and to make the deeper impression on the apostle’s mind. And the vessel was received up again into heaven - Both Jews and Gentiles came equally from God; and to him, both, by the preaching of the Gospel, shall again return.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
This was done thrice - Three times, doubtless to impress the mind of Peter with the certainty and importance of the vision. Compare Gen 41:32.
The words behind it
13 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| τοῦτο | touto | This | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἐγένετο | egeneto | took place | G1096 → | 667 times |
| ἐπὶ | epi | for | G1909 → | 883 times |
| τρίς, | tris | three times | G5151 → | |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| εὐθὺς | euthus | immediately | G2112 → | 87 times |
| ἀνελήμφθη | anelemphthe | was taken up | G353 → | 12 times |
| τὸ | to | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| σκεῦος | skeuos | vessel | G4632 → | 23 times |
| εἰς | eis | into | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὸν | ton | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| οὐρανόν. | ouranon | heaven. | G3772 → | 272 times |
τοῦτοThis
toutoG3778 →1381 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
ἐγένετοtook place
egenetoG1096 →667 times
ἐπὶfor
epiG1909 →883 times
τρίς,three times
trisG5151 →
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
εὐθὺςimmediately
euthusG2112 →87 times
ἀνελήμφθηwas taken up
anelemphtheG353 →12 times
τὸthe
toG3588 →19766 times
σκεῦοςvessel
skeuosG4632 →23 times
εἰςinto
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὸν<the>
tonG3588 →19766 times
οὐρανόν.heaven.
ouranonG3772 →272 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Corinthians 13:1This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
it leads to
- Matthew 18:16
But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
- Deuteronomy 19:15
A lone witness is not sufficient to establish any wrongdoing or sin against a man, regardless of what offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or…
- Deuteronomy 17:6
On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness.
- John 8:17–18
Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.
- Matthew 18:16
Through
John 21:17Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,”…
it leads to
- John 13:38
“Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.
- John 16:30
Now we understand that You know all things and that You have no need for anyone to question You. Because of this, we believe that You came from God.”
- Mark 14:72
And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he broke down…
- John 13:38
Through
Genesis 41:32Moreover, because the dream was given to Pharaoh in two versions, the matter has been decreed by God, and He will carry it out shortly.
it leads to
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Numbers 23:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies7
About Acts
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Arator, ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1; Bede, Commentary on Acts; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 22; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 7.4.5 and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.