compare the base of G1169 (δειλός) and G1249 (διάκονος)) · verb — aorist active indicative, 1st person singular
this
ταύτηνtautēn
G3778
the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — accusative singular feminine
way
ὁδὸνhodon
G3598
a road · noun — accusative singular feminine
unto
ἄχριachri
G891
(of time) until or (of place) up to · preposition
death
θανάτουthanatou
G2288
(properly · noun — genitive singular masculine
binding
δεσμεύωνdesmeuōn
G1195
to be a binder (captor) · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
delivering
παραδιδοὺςparadidous
G3860
to surrender · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
into
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
prisons
φυλακὰςphulakas
G5438
a guarding or (concretely · noun — accusative plural feminine
both
τεte
G5037
both or also (properly · conjunction
men
ἄνδραςandras
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — accusative plural masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
women
γυναῖκας,gunaikas
G1135
a woman · noun — accusative plural feminine
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 22:19-20 And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:
Acts 26:9-11 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
1 Timothy 1:13-15 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
Acts 8:1-4 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they w…
Acts 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Acts 7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
Acts 9:1-2 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 22:3-21
Paul here gives such an account of himself as might serve not only to satisfy the chief captain that he was not that Egyptian he took him to be, but the Jews also that he was not that enemy to their church and nation, to their law and temple, they took him to be, and that what he did in preaching Christ, and particularly in preaching him to the Gentiles, he did by a divine commission. He here gives them to understand,
I. What his extraction and education were. 1. That he was one of their own nation, of the stock of Israel, of the seed of Abraham, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, not of any obscure family, or a renegado of some other nation: "No, I am verily a man who is a Jew, anēr Ioudaios - a Jew…
I persecuted this way - Ταυτην την ὁδον; This doctrine, the way of worshipping God, and arriving at a state of blessedness. See on Act 9:2 (note).
Binding and delivering into prisons - See on Act 8:3 (note); Act 9:2 (note).
John Gill on Acts 22:4
And I persecuted this way unto the death,.... That is, the Christian religion, and the professors of it; whom the apostle breathed out threatenings and slaughter against, haled out of their houses, and committed to prison; consented to their death, as he did to Stephen's; and whenever it was put to the vote, whether they should die or not, he gave his voice against them; so that he was a most bitter enemy, and an implacable persecutor of them; which shows how very averse he was to this way, and how great his prejudices were against it; wherefore it must be a work of divine power, and there must be the singular hand of God in it, to reconcile him to it, and cause him to embrace and profess it…
He brings forward as witnesses the high priest and the elders. On the one hand, [Paul] makes himself their equal when he says, "I being a zealot just as you," but then he shows through his deeds that he was a greater zealot than they. "I wasn't waiting around," he says, "to arrest them, but I was even stirring up the priests and being sent abroad. And I wasn't after just men, as you are, but I sought out women too, put them in chains and even threw them into prison." This is irrefutable testimony. His Jewish credentials could not be disputed. Count the witnesses he brings forward: the body of elders, the high priest, those in the city. Note how his defense is not fearful but instructive rather and educational. Had his audience not been stone, they would have given heed to his words.
Then he brings forward proofs also, saying, "and I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders." "How does this appear?" As witnesses he brings forward the high-priest himself and the elders. He says indeed, "Being a zealot, as ye:" but he shows by his actions, that he went beyond them. "For I did not wait for an opportunity of seizing them: I both stirred up the priests, and undertook journeys: I did not confine my attacks, as ye did, to men, I extended them to women also: both binding, and casting into prisons both men and women." This testimony is incontrovertible; the unbelief of the Jews is left without excuse. See how many witnesses he brings forward, the elders, the high-priest, and those in the city. Observe his defence, how it is not of cowardly fear for himself, that he pleads, no, but for teaching and indoctrination. For had not the hearers been stones, they would have felt the force of what he was saying. For up to this point he had themselves as witnesses.
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
Antonia — A fortress in Jerusalem, at the north-west corner of the temple area. It is called “the castle” (Acts 21:34, 37). From the stairs of this castle Paul delivered his famous speech to the multitude in…
Paul · the stoning of Stephen — the stoning of Stephen
Persecution · Is sometimes to death — Is sometimes to death
Way · .Doctrines taught by Christ — .Doctrines taught by Christ
Zeal · Sometimes wrongly directed — Sometimes wrongly directed
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).
John Calvin on Acts 22:1-5
Acts 22:1-5
1. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear mine excuse which I make now before you. 2. And when they heard that he spake to them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more silence: And he said, 3. I truly am a man, a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. 4. And I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering into prison both men and women. 5. As the chief priest doth bear me witness, and all the older of elders, of whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which…
