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Acts 22:26

in Acts 22

On hearing this, the centurion went and reported it to the commander. “What are you going to do?” he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And when the centurion heard it, he went to the chief captain and told him, saying, What art thou about to do? for this man is a Roman.

KJV

When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.

This verse in Acts 22

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
When the centurion heard that,.... The question put by Paul, which strongly suggested that he was a Roman: he went and told the chief captain; what Paul had said: saying, take heed what thou dost; or "art about to do"; lest some bad consequences should follow; lest he should affront the Roman people and senate, and lose his place, if not incur some corporeal punishment: for this man is a Roman; and it can never be answered to bind and beat a Roman.

This site's exposition

a Roman citizen without a trial

on Acts 22:25-26

Stretched out for the whip, Paul asked whether it was lawful to flog a Roman citizen without a trial, invoking the Porcian and Valerian laws. The centurion warned the commander, since the flogging could have cost him his career.

This site's exposition

This man is a Roman citizen

John Gill notes that Paul's question alone told the centurion what he was. Matthew Henry explains the alarm, since an insult to a citizen counted as an offense against the majesty of the Roman people. John Wesley adds that Paul was also a servant of God.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

Consider what thou art about to do; for this man is a Roman - Yea, there was a stronger reason to consider. For this man was a servant of God.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman, and what indignity is done to him will be construed an offence against the majesty of the Roman people, as they loved to speak. They all knew what a value was put upon this privilege of the Roman citizens.

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

The words behind it

18 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

    Acts 22:29

    Then those who were about to interrogate Paul stepped back, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

    it leads to

    • Acts 21:33

      The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

    • Acts 22:24–26

      the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.

    • Acts 16:38–39

      So the officers relayed this message to the magistrates, who were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

    • Hebrews 11:35

      Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

  • Through

    Acts 23:27

    This man was seized by the Jews, and they were about to kill him when I came with my troops to rescue him. For I had learned that he is a Roman citizen,

    it leads to

    • Acts 22:25–29

      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 21:31–33

      While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil.

    • Acts 23:10

      The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.

    • Acts 24:6

      and he even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him.

Where this verse is studied

About Acts

The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.
The Pentecost, El Greco, about 1600, Museo del Prado. Public domain.

This page draws on J. A. Alexander, Acts of the Apostles Explained; 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.