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Acts 6:13

in Acts 6

where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and set up false witnesses, who said, This man ceaseth not to speak words against this holy place, and the law:

KJV

And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

This verse in Acts 6

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Acts · Written before 550.

They brought men who said that "we have heard him uttering blasphemous words against Moses and God." What were the words? "That this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place." And indeed Stephen said this, though not perhaps in so bare a form. How then …

This site's exposition

where they presented false witnesses

on Acts 6:13-14

False witnesses say he never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law, claiming Jesus will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us. The charge distorts rather than invents, since Jesus had spoken of the temple's destruction and had brought a new covenant that reordered the law's ceremonial demands. The same charge of destroying the temple had been brought at Jesus' own trial (Mark 14:58).

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 15 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

They say not, "he speaketh," but, "he ceaseth not to speak. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, and set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law." "Ceaseth not," say they, as if he made this his business. "For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us." "Jesus," they say, "the Nazarene," as a term of reproach, "shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs." This is also what they said about Christ. "Thou that destroyest this Temple." For great was their veneration for the Temple (as indeed they had chosen to leave their own country in order to be near it) and for the name of Moses. The charge is twofold. If He "shall change the customs," He will also introduce others instead: observe how the charge is a bitter one, and fraught with perils.

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily on Acts 15 · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

"We have heard him," they say, "speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God": and again, "This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law," and with an addition, "the customs which Moses delivered to us"; Moses, not God. Upon the supposition of a design to overturn their manner of life, they accused him of impiety also.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on Acts · Written before 1107.

proposed

"And they set up false witnesses, who said." Everywhere false testimony. They did not wish to kill simply, but by verdict, calculating that by this they would undermine the good reputation of those whom they were killing. They did not say of Stephen: "he speaks," …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And set up false witnesses,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

And set up false witnesses - It has been made a question why these persons are called “false” witnesses, since it is supposed by many that they reported merely the “words” of Stephen. It may be replied that if they did report merely his “words”; if Stephen had actually said what they affirmed, yet they perverted his meaning. They accused him of “blasphemy”; that is, of calumnious and reproachful words against Moses and against God That Stephen had spoken in such a manner, or had designed to “reproach” Moses, there is no evidence.
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

blasphemous words against Moses--doubtless referring to the impending disappearance of the whole Mosaic system. and against God--This must refer to the supreme dignity and authority which he claimed for Christ, as the head of that new economy which was so speedily to supersede the old (compare Ac 7:56, 59, 60).

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Against this holy place - The temple, that it shall be destroyed. And the law - That it cannot give life, nor save from death. It is very likely that they had heard him speak words to this amount, which were all as true as the spirit from which they proceeded; but they gave them a very false colouring, as we see in the succeeding verse.

The words behind it

21 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.

The walk

8 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

    Matthew 24:15

    So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ described by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),

    it leads to

    • Daniel 9:27

      And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple…

    • Daniel 12:11

      And from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be 1,290 days.

    • Mark 13:14

      So when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

    • Luke 21:20

      But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her desolation is near.

    • Daniel 11:31

      His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.

  • Through

    Psalms 27:12

    Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 26:59–60

      Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 31:8

      You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.

    • Psalms 41:11

      By this I know that You delight in me, for my enemy does not triumph over me.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies2

About Acts

The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Ascension, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on Acts; 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, Homily on Acts 15; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Oecumenius, Commentary on Acts and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts.