Acts 23:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 23:11
And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
"night" (literally or figuratively) · noun — dative singular feminine
following
ἐπιούσῃepiousē
G1966
supervening · verb — present active participle, dative singular feminine
Lord
κύριοςkurios
G2962
supreme in authority · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
stood
ἐπιστὰςepistas
G2186
to stand upon · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
him
αὐτῷautō
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
said
εἶπεν·eipen
G2036
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
Be of good cheer
θάρσειtharsei
G2293
to have courage · verb — present active imperative, 2nd person singular
Paul
ΠαῦλοςPaûlos
G3972
(little
for
γὰρgar
G1063
properly · conjunction
as
ὡςhōs
G5613
which how · particle
hast testified
διεμαρτύρωdiemarturō
G1263
to attest or protest earnestly · verb — aorist middle deponent indicative, 2nd person singular
of
περὶperi
G4012
properly · preposition
me
ἐμοῦemoû
G1700
of me
in
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Jerusalem
Ἰερουσαλήμ,Ierousalēm
G2419
Hierusalem (i.e. Jerushalem) · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
so
οὕτωhoutō
G3779
in this way (referring to what precedes or follows) · adverb
must
δεῖdei
G1163
also deon deh-on' · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
thou
σέsé
G4571
thee
bear witness
μαρτυρῆσαι.¶marturēsai
G3140
to be a witness · verb — aorist active infinitive
also
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
at
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Rome
ῬώμηνRhōmēn
G4516
strength · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
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 18:9 Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:
2 Timothy 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might…
Matthew 14:27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
Jeremiah 15:19-21 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the prec…
Acts 19:21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, Aft…
Matthew 9:2 And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son,…
Romans 1:15-16 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 23:6-11
Many are the troubles of the righteous, but some way or other the Lord delivereth them out of them all. Paul owned he had experienced the truth of this in the persecutions he had undergone among the Gentiles (see Ti2 3:11): Out of them all the Lord delivered me. And now he finds that he who has delivered does and will deliver. He that delivered him in the foregoing chapter from the tumult of the people here delivers him from that of the elders.
I. His own prudence and ingenuity stand him in some stead, and contribute much to his escape. Paul's greatest honour, and that upon which he most valued himself, was that he was a Christian, and an apostle of Christ; and all his other honours he despi…
IN THE FORTRESS PAUL IS CHEERED BY A NIGHT VISION--AN INFAMOUS CONSPIRACY TO ASSASSINATE HIM IS PROVIDENTIALLY DEFEATED, AND HE IS DESPATCHED BY NIGHT WITH A LETTER FROM THE COMMANDANT TO FELIX AT CÆSAREA, BY WHOM ARRANGEMENTS ARE MADE FOR A HEARING OF HIS CAUSE. (Acts 23:11-35)
the night following--his heart perhaps sinking, in the solitude of his barrack ward, and thinking perhaps that all the predictions of danger at Jerusalem were now to be fulfilled in his death there.
the Lord--that is, Jesus.
stood by him . . . Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou . . . also at Rome--that is, "Thy work in Jerusalem is done, faithfully and well done;…
Be of good cheer, Paul - It is no wonder if, with all these trials and difficulties, St. Paul was much dejected in mind; and especially as he had not any direct intimation from God what the end of the present trials would be: to comfort him and strengthen his faith, God gave him this vision.
So must thou bear witness also at Rome - This was pleasing intelligence to Paul, who had long desired to see that city, and preach the Gospel of Christ there. He appears to have had an intimation that he should see it; but how, he could not tell; and this vision satisfied him that he should be sent thither by God himself. This would settle every fear and scruple concerning the issue of the present persec…
The Church Fathers
Some one might say, How is it, that having been told, "Thou must also bear witness of Me in Rome", he, as if unbelieving, did this? God forbid: nay, he did it, because he so strongly believed. For it would have been a tempting of God to be bold on account of that declaration, and to cast himself into numberless dangers, and to say: "Let us see if God is able even thus to deliver me." But not so does Paul; no, he does his part, all that in him lies, committing the whole to God.
But why did He not appear to him before he fell into the danger? Because it is evermore in the afflictions that God comforts us; for He appears more wished-for, while even in the dangers He exercises and trains us. Besides, he was then at ease, when free from bonds; but now great perils were awaiting him. "And the Lord," it said, "stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." Yet even after He has appeared to him, He again suffers him to be saved by man's means.
"And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." See what strong consolation! First he praises him, "As thou hast testified to My cause in Jerusalem;" then He does not leave him to be afraid for the uncertain issue of his journey to Rome: for thither also, He saith, thou shalt not depart alone, but thou shalt also have all this boldness of speech. Hereby it was made manifest, not only that he should be saved, but that he should be so in order to great crowns in the great city.
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
Claudius Lysius · Sends Paul to Felix — Sends Paul to Felix
Dream · .Relating to his going to Rome — .Relating to his going to Rome
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).
And the night following,.... The day in which Paul was brought before the sanhedrim, and pleaded his own cause before them, and had thrown them into confusion and division:
the Lord stood by him; the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in a vision to him, and stood very near him, by the side of him, by the bed or couch on which he might lie: and said,
be of good cheer, Paul; though he was now a prisoner in the castle; and though the high priest, and the Sadducees especially, were enraged against him; and though a plot was about to be formed to take away his life; for this exhortation seems to be designed to prepare him for further trials, and to prevent discouragement under them; which shows the gr…
Acts 23:10-16
10. And when there arose a sore dissension among them, the chief captain feared lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces by them, and he commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him from them, and to bring him into the camp, 11. And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, lie of good courage, Paul: for as thou hast borne witness of me at Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness of me at Rome also. 12. And when it was day, certain of the Jews gathered themselves together, and bound themselves with a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. 13. And there were more than forty men which had made this conspiracy. 14. And they…
