Acts 16:26 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 16:26
And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
great
μέγαςmegas
G3173
big (literally or figuratively · adjective — nominative singular masculine
earthquake
σεισμὸςseismos
G4578
a commotion · noun — nominative singular masculine
that
ὥστεhōste
G5620
so too · conjunction
foundations
θεμέλιαthemelia
G2310
something put down · noun — accusative plural neuter
prison
δεσμωτηρίου·desmōtēriou
G1201
a place of bondage · noun — genitive singular neuter
shaken
σαλευθῆναιsaleuthēnai
G4531
to waver · verb — aorist passive infinitive
and
τέté
G5037
both or also (properly
immediately
παραχρῆμαparachrēma
G3916
at the thing itself · adverb
all
πᾶσαι,pasai
G3956
all · adjective — nominative plural feminine
doors
θύραιthurai
G2374
a portal or entrance (the opening or the closure · noun — nominative plural feminine
opened
ἠνεῴχθησανēneōchthēsan
G455
to open up (literally or figuratively · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person plural
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
one’s
πάντωνpantōn
G3956
all · adjective — genitive plural masculine
bands
δεσμὰdesma
G1199
a band · noun — nominative plural neuter
loosed
ἀνέθη.anethē
G447
to let up · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they sp…
Acts 5:19 But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
Acts 12:7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, sayin…
Acts 12:10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own…
Psalms 146:7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:
Matthew 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door…
Psalms 102:20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
Isaiah 42:7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 16:25-34
We have here the designs of the persecutors of Paul and Silas baffled and broken.
I. The persecutors designed to dishearten and discourage the preachers of the gospel, and to make them sick of the cause and weary of their work; but here we find them both hearty and heartened.
1. They were themselves hearty, wonderfully hearty; never were poor prisoners so truly cheerful, nor so far from laying their hard usage to heart. Let us consider what their case was. The praetors among the Romans had rods carried before them, and axes bound upon them, the fasces and secures. Now they had felt the smart of the rods, the ploughers had ploughed upon their backs, and made long furrows. The many stripes the…
And suddenly there was a great earthquake--in answer, doubtless, to the prayers and expectations of the sufferers that, for the truth's sake and the honor of their Lord, some interposition would take place.
every one's bands--that is, the bands of all the prisoners.
were loosed--not by the earthquake, of course, but by a miraculous energy accompanying it. By this and the joyous strains which they had heard from the sufferers, not to speak of the change wrought on the jailer, these prisoners could hardly fail to have their hearts in some measure opened to the truth; and this part of the narrative seems the result of information afterwards communicated by one or more of these men.
Adam Clarke on Acts 16:26
There was a great earthquake - Thus God bore a miraculous testimony of approbation to his servants; and, by the earthquake, and loosing the bonds of the prisoners, showed, in a symbolical way, the nature of that religion which they preached: while it shakes and terrifies the guilty, it proclaims deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison-doors to them that are bound; and sets at liberty them that are bruised.
Every one's bands were loosed - And yet so eminently did God's providence conduct every thing, that not one of the prisoners made his escape, though the doors were open, and his bolts off!
John Gill
The Church Fathers
An earthquake struck so great that it awakened the prison guard; indeed the doors were opened, so that he might marvel at what had happened and believe. For these things were not done for display, but for salvation. Were not these seen before by those who were bound? For otherwise certainly all would have fled.
The prison shook to disrupt the mindset of the faithless, to set the prison guard free and to proclaim the word of God.… You see how the nature of shackles destroys the shackles, for just as the death of the Lord put death to death, so also the shackles of Paul set the captives free, shook the prison, opened the doors. And yet this is not the nature of shackles, but they do the opposite—they hold the prisoner in security, they do not open up the walls for him. But while the simple nature of shackles is not this, the nature of these shackles is such because of Christ.
And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And why did no other miracle take place? Because this was, of all others, the thing sufficient for his conversion, seeing he was personally in danger: for it is not so much miracles that overpower us, as the things which issue in our own deliverance. That the earthquake should not seem to have come of itself, there was this concurrent circumstance, bearing witness to it: the doors were opened, and all their bonds were loosed. And it appears in the night-time; for the Apostles did not work for display, but for men's salvation.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Earthquake — Mentioned among the extraordinary phenomena of Palestine (Ps. 18:7; comp. Hab. 3:6; Nah. 1:5; Isa. 5:25). The first earthquake in Palestine of which we have any record happened in the reign of Ahab…
Paul — =Saul (q.v.) was born about the same time as our Lord. His circumcision-name was Saul, and probably the name Paul was also given to him in infancy “for use in the Gentile world,” as “Saul” would be…
Philippi — (1.) Formerly Crenides, “the fountain,” the capital of the province of Macedonia. It stood near the head of the Sea, about 8 miles north-west of Kavalla. It is now a ruined village, called…
Scourging — (1 Kings 12:11). Variously administered. In no case were the stripes to exceed forty (Deut. 25:3; comp. 2 Cor. 11:24). In the time of the apostles, in consequence of the passing of what was called…
Criminals · Confined in pri — Confined in pri
Earthquakes · .When Paul and Silas were in pri — .When Paul and Silas were in pri
Foundation · The lowest part of a building, and on which it rests — The lowest part of a building, and on which it rests
Philippi · (A city of Macedonia) -Paul preaches in — (A city of Macedonia) -Paul preaches in
Prayer, Answers To · Exemplified: Paul and Silas — Exemplified: Paul and Silas
Prisoners · Paul — Paul
Silas · Impri — Impri
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Acts 16:26
And suddenly there was a great earthquake,.... An extraordinary and unusual one; which did not arise from natural causes, from wind being pent up in the earth, but from the prayers and praises of the saints, going up to heaven; when God was pleased to testify his presence and power this way; and the effects which followed upon this earthquake, show it to be a supernatural one:
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; not the roof and walls only, as is common in earthquakes, but the very foundation also; and yet the edifice was not thrown down, as is usual when the foundation is shaken:
and immediately all the doors were opened; both of the outer and inner prisons, which is anothe…
Acts 16:23-28
23. And when they had given them many stripes, they did cast them into prison, commanding the keeper of the prison to keep them safe; 24. Who, seeing he had received such commandments, did put them in the inner prison, and made fast their feet in the stocks. 25. And at midnight Paul and Silas praying, did praise God; and those which lay bound heard them. 26. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and by and by all the doors were opened, and all their hands [chains] were loosed. 27. And when the keeper of the prison awaked, and saw all the prison doors open, drawing out his sword, he was about to slay himself, thinking that…
