Acts 2:35
in Acts 2until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.
KJV
Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
⋯
This verse in Acts 2
Commentary
12 notes on this verse"Until I make your enemies your footstool." This is what Peter elsewhere said about the Lord: "Whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things" (Acts III). For then, when all times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord, He …
This site's exposition
by the right hand of God exalted
on Acts 2:33-36
Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear: Peter explains the morning's sign as the ascended Christ's own act, the tongues traced up to the throne, and the bench notes the trinitarian shape of the sentence, the Father's promise, the Son's shedding forth, the Spirit poured. Psalm 110:1 seals the case, David again unable to be his own subject since he is not ascended into the heavens, the LORD said unto my Lord fitting only One. The sermon's verdict falls in one sentence: God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ, the two titles answering the two proofs, Lord from Psalm 110, Christ from Psalm 16, and the whom-ye-crucified aimed at the hearers present, not at a people for all time.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
The words "Sit on my right hand" he speaks as to man, for they are not spoken to him that sits ever on the throne of glory, God the Word after his ascension from earth, but they are said to him who has now been …
And that God the Father of all would bring Christ to heaven after He had raised Him from the dead, and would keep Him there until He has subdued His enemies the devils, and until the number of those who are foreknown by Him as good and virtuous is complete, on whose account He has still delayed the consummation-hear what was said by the prophet David. These are his words: "The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The Lord shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem; and rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. With Thee is the government in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of Thy saints: from the womb of morning have I begotten Thee." That which he says, "He shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem," is predictive of the mighty, word, which His apostles, going forth from Jerusalem, preached everywhere; and though death is decreed against those who teach or at all confess the name of Christ, we everywhere both embrace and teach it. And if you also read these words in a hostile spirit, ye can do no more, as I said before, than kill us; which indeed does no harm to us, but to you and all who unjustly hate us, and do not repent, brings eternal punishment by fire.
Henceforth after the mention of His giving the Spirit, he confidently speaks also of His ascension into heaven; and not only so, but again adducing the witness, and reminding them of that Person concerning Whom Christ once spake. "For not David," says he "ascended into the heavens." Here he no longer speaks in lowly phrase, having the confidence which results from the things said nor does he say, "Be it permitted me to speak," or the like: "But he saith himself; The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." Now if He be David's Lord, much more shall they not disdain Him. "Sit thou on My right hand;" he has set the whole matter here; "until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool:" here also he has brought upon them a great terror, just as in the beginning he showed what He does to His friends, what to his enemies. And again, as to the act of subjugation, not to provoke unbelief, he ascribes it to the Father.
And he sets before them a fear by the phrase, "until I make your enemies." And so that they may not disbelieve, he assigns the submission to the Father.
The Medieval Church1 voice
By David's words "until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet," Peter instilled fear in them as a means of conquering them. And so as not to undermine their faith in him, he ascribes everything to the Father. After having spoken of great …
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. Certain codices have 'The Lord says,' but Greek exemplars in both this book and the Psalter have 'The Lord said.' Most clearly, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Until I make thine enemies thy footstool - This text is here quoted with the greatest address, as suggesting in the words of David, their great prophetic monarch, how certain their own ruin must be, if they went on to oppose Christ.
Until I make thy foes thy footstool. See Gill on Mat 22:44.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Until I make thy foes thy footstool - It was usual with conquerors to put their feet on the necks of vanquished leaders, as emblematical of the state of subjection to which they were reduced, and the total extinction of their power. By quoting these words, Peter shows the Jews, who continued enemies to Christ, that their discomfiture and ruin must necessarily take place, their own king and prophet having predicted this in connection with the other things which had already been so literally and circumstantially fulfilled.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The Psalm is then affirmed to have had its only proper fulfilment in JESUS, of whose resurrection and ascension they were witnesses, while the glorious effusion of the Spirit by the hand of the ascended One, setting an infallible seal upon all, was even then witnessed by the thousands who stood listening to Him.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἕως | he'os | until | G2193 → | 146 times |
| ἂν | an | when | G302 → | 165 times |
| θῶ | tho | I may place | G5087 → | 100 times |
| τοὺς | tous | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἐχθρούς | echthrous | enemies | G2190 → | |
| σου | sou | of You | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ὑποπόδιον | hupopodion | a footstool | G5286 → | |
| τῶν | ton | of the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ποδῶν | podon | feet | G4228 → | 93 times |
| σου. | sou | of You.’ | G4771 → | 2973 times |
ἕωςuntil
he'osG2193 →146 times
ἂνwhen
anG302 →165 times
θῶI may place
thoG5087 →100 times
τοὺςthe
tousG3588 →19766 times
ἐχθρούςenemies
echthrousG2190 →
σουof You
souG4771 →2973 times
ὑποπόδιονa footstool
hupopodionG5286 →
τῶνof the
tonG3588 →19766 times
ποδῶνfeet
podonG4228 →93 times
σου.of You.’
souG4771 →2973 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
Romans 16:20The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
it leads to
- Luke 10:19
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.
- 1 John 3:8
The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the…
- Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
- Zechariah 10:5
They will be like mighty men in battle, trampling the enemy in the mire of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put the horsemen to shame.
- Malachi 4:3
Then you will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I am preparing,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Luke 10:19
Through
Isaiah 60:14The sons of your oppressors will come and bow down to you; all who reviled you will fall facedown at your feet and call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy…
it leads to
- Revelation 3:9
Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know…
- Isaiah 49:23
Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD;…
- Hebrews 12:22
Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels
- Revelation 3:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies25
On this chapter
- Afterlife Vocabulary
- Baptism in the Holy Spirit (the Acts Evidence)
- The Twelve
- The Deity of Christ
- The Fall Feasts
- The Hebrew Feasts
- Fire
- Head Coverings
- Jesus on the Holy Spirit
- Miracles of Jesus
- The 153 Fish
- Pentecost
- The Suffering Servant
- The Church
- The Day of the LORD: yom YHWH
- The Intertestamental Period
- The Jewish Day and the Watches of the Night
- The Promise of the Father
- The Right Hand
- The Sects of Second Temple Judaism
- Water Baptism
About Acts

This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Commentary on Acts; Bede, Retractions on Acts; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary upon the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 6; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter XLV; Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts; Theodoret of Cyrus, DIALOGUE 2 and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.
