Acts 5:33
in Acts 5When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But they, when they heard this, were cut to the heart, and were minded to slay them.
KJV
When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.
⋯
This verse in Acts 5
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When they heard that - That which the apostle Peter had said, to wit, that they were guilty of murder; that Jesus was raised up; and that he still lived as the Messiah. They were cut to the heart - The word used here properly denotes “to cut with a saw”; and as applied to the “mind,” it means to be agitated with “rage” and “indignation,” as if wrath should seize upon the mind as a saw does upon wood, and tear it violently, or agitate it severely.
This site's exposition
took counsel to slay them
The council is cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them, the same phrase cut to the heart that will describe a very different response in chapter two, conviction there opening to repentance, here hardening into rage. The bench reads the contrast as the same word landing on two different soils, one broken and one closed. Only Gamaliel's intervention in the verses that follow stands between the apostles and the death the council is already resolved on.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
The others on a former occasion "when they heard these things were pricked;" here they were cut as with a saw and desired to slay them. Hearest thou of the forgiveness of sins, O wretched man, and that God doth not demand punishment, and dost thou wish to slay them? What wickedness was this! And yet, either they ought to have convicted them of lying, or if they could not do that, to have believed: but if they did not choose to believe, yet they ought not to slay them. For what was there deserving of death? Such was their intoxication, they did not even see what had taken place. Observe, how everywhere the Apostles, when they have made mention of the crime, add the mention of forgiveness; showing, that while what had been done was worthy of death, that which was given was proffered to them as to benefactors! In what other way could any one have persuaded them?
See again these in perplexity, these in pain: but those in quiet and cheerfulness and delight. It is not merely, They were grieved, but "They were cut" to the heart. Truly this makes good that proverb, "Evil do, evil fare:" as we may see in this case. Here were these men in bonds, set at the bar of judgment, and the men that sit in judgment upon them were in distress and helpless perplexity. For as he who strikes a blow upon the adamant, gets the shock of the blow himself, so it was with these men. But they saw that not only was their boldness of speech not stopped, but rather their preaching increased the more, and that they discoursed without a thought of fear, and afforded them no handles against them.
That he grants forgiveness, and we bear witness, and the Holy Spirit, which would not have come, if first the sins had not been loosened. Humility, moreover, is the nature of such a discourse. For it has not been said to us as a privilege …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Others, listening to the apostles, were troubled, while the high priest and those with him "were cut to the heart and plotted to kill them."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
When they heard that,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
cut to the heart and took--"were taking." counsel to slay them--How different this feeling and the effect of it from that "pricking of the heart" which drew from the first converts on the day of Pentecost the cry, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Ac 2:37). The words used in the two places are strikingly different.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
They were cut to the heart - Διεπριοντο, Literally, they were sawn through, from δια through, and πριω, to saw. They were stung to the heart, not with compunction nor remorse, but with spite, malice, and revenge: for, having the murder of Christ thus brought home to their consciences, in the first feelings of their malice and revenge, they thought of destroying the persons who had witnessed their nefarious conduct.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| οἱ | hoi | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| δὲ | de | And | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| ἀκούσαντες | akousantes | having heard | G191 → | 425 times |
| διεπρίοντο | dieprionto | they felt cut up | G1282 → | |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐβούλοντο | eboulonto | they were desiring | G1014 → | 37 times |
| ἀνελεῖν | anelein | to execute | G337 → | 24 times |
| αὐτούς.¶ | autous | them. | G846 → | 5565 times |
οἱ<the>
hoiG3588 →19766 times
δὲAnd
deG1161 →2765 times
ἀκούσαντεςhaving heard
akousantesG191 →425 times
διεπρίοντοthey felt cut up
diepriontoG1282 →
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐβούλοντοthey were desiring
eboulontoG1014 →37 times
ἀνελεῖνto execute
aneleinG337 →24 times
αὐτούς.¶them.
autousG846 →5565 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
Matthew 24:9Then they will deliver you over to be persecuted and killed, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
it leads to
- John 16:2
They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
- John 15:19–20
If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- Luke 21:16–17
You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death.
- Revelation 2:10
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful…
- Matthew 10:17–22
But beware of men; for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues.
- John 16:2
Through
John 16:2They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
it leads to
- John 9:22
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
- Acts 26:9–11
So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
- Romans 10:2–3
For I testify about them that they are zealous for God, but not on the basis of knowledge.
- John 9:22
Where this verse is studied
About Acts
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 13; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.