Passage

Acts 5.30

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

28. saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name: and behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. 29. But Peter and the apostles answered and said, We must obey God rather than men.

30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree.

Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. 32. And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey him. (Acts 5:28-32, ASV)

WEB

28. saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this name? Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man’s blood on us.” 29. But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed, hanging him on a tree.

God exalted him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. 32. We are His witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:28-32, WEB)

KJV

28. Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. 29. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.

Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. (Acts 5:28-32, KJV)

YLT

28. saying, 'Did not we strictly command you not to teach in this name? and lo, ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and ye intend to bring upon us the blood of this man.' 29. And Peter and the apostles answering, said, 'To obey God it behoveth, rather than men;

30. and the God of our fathers did raise up Jesus, whom ye slew, having hanged upon a tree;

this one God, a Prince and a Saviour, hath exalted with His right hand, to give reformation to Israel, and forgiveness of sins; 32. and we are His witnesses of these sayings, and the Holy Spirit also, whom God gave to those obeying him.' (Acts 5:28-32, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Peter and the other apostles
Audience: the high priest and the council (5:27)
Location: Jerusalem
Time period: c. AD 30-33, in the first months of the Jerusalem church

Theological reading

"The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts 5:30, KJV).

The God of Israel's fathers. Peter does not announce a new god. "The God of our fathers" is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (compare 3:13), whom the council also worship. The charge is that their own God reversed their verdict.

"Hanged on a tree." The phrase echoes Deuteronomy 21:22-23: "he that is hanged is accursed of God." To the council, crucifixion marked Jesus as cursed. The Qumran Temple Scroll (11QT 64) already applied this law to a traitor hanged on a tree so that he dies, which shows the passage was being read of execution by hanging, not only of displaying a corpse, before the Christians used it. The apostles do not avoid the shameful word. They repeat it (10:39; 13:29) and Paul explains it: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13; see also 1 Peter 2:24). The resurrection is God's public reversal of the curse.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G1453 - egeiro, egeiro, Strong's G1453
G3962 - pater, pater, Strong's G3962
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Crucifixion Remains of Yehohanan

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.