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Acts 23:31

in Acts 23

So the soldiers followed their orders and brought Paul by night to Antipatris.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

So the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

KJV

Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by night to Antipatris.

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This verse in Acts 23

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
To Antipatris - This town was anciently called Cafar-Saba. Josephus says (Antiq., Act 13:23) that it was about 17 miles from Joppa. It was about 26 miles from Caesarea, and, of course, about 35 miles from Jerusalem. Herod the Great changed its name to Antipatris, in honor of his father Antipater. It was situated in a fine plain, and watered with many springs and fountains. Eli Smith, late missionary to Palestine, who took a journey from Jerusalem to Joppa for the purpose of ascertaining Paul’s route, supposes that the site of Antipatris is the present Kefr Saba.

This site's exposition

brought him by night to Antipatris

on Acts 23:31-33

The soldiers move Paul by night the roughly forty miles to Antipatris, the most dangerous stretch closest to Jerusalem where ambush was likeliest, then the infantry turns back the next day and the horsemen alone finish the safer remaining distance to Caesarea. The staged withdrawal of forces matches exactly what a competent Roman escort commander would do once the risk had passed, another of the chapter's small marks of accurate military procedure. Paul arrives and the epistle is delivered along with the prisoner, precisely as Lysias had planned it.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 50 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

Like some king whom his body-guards escort, so did these convey Paul; in such numbers too, and by night, for fear of the wrath of the people. Now then you will say that they have got him out of the city, they desist from their violence? No indeed. But the tribune would not have sent him off with such care for his safety, but that while he himself had found nothing amiss in him, he knew the murderous disposition of his adversaries.

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

The soldiers brought him by night to Antipatris - But not the same night they set out. For Antipatris was about thirty-eight of our miles northwest of Jerusalem. Herod the Great rebuilt it, and gave it this name in honour of his father Antipater: Cesarea was near seventy miles from Jerusalem, and about thirty from Antipatris.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Now that Paul was brought before them he thought to have faced them down, but could not, such was their wicked impudence. However, now was fulfilled in him what God promised to Ezekiel ( ch. iii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Antipatris - This place, according to Josephus, Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 23, was anciently called Capharsaba, and is supposed to be the same which, in 1 Maccabees 7:31, is called Capharsalama, or Carphasalama. It was rebuilt by Herod the Great, and denominated Antipatris, in honor of his father Antipater. It was situated between Joppa and Caesarea, on the road from Jerusalem to this latter city. Josephus says it was fifty stadia from Joppa. The distance between Jerusalem and Caesarea was about seventy miles.

The words behind it

17 Greek words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

5 stops

Each 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

    Luke 7:8

    For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes; and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something,…

    it leads to

    • Acts 10:7–8

      When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among his attendants.

    • 1 Timothy 6:1–2

      All who are under the yoke of slavery should regard their masters as fully worthy of honor, so that God’s name and our teaching will not be discredited.

    • Acts 22:25–26

      But as they stretched him out to strap him down, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?”

    • Acts 23:17

      Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.”

    • Colossians 3:22

      Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only to please them while they are watching, but with sincerity of heart and fear of the Lord.

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Acts: the study guide →Read Acts 23 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 50; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and William Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen.

Read on in Acts 23 →