Acts 28:21 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 28:21
And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judaea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee.
to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
unto
πρὸςpros
G4314
a preposition of direction · preposition
him
αὐτὸνauton
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
We
ἡμεῖςhēmeîs
G2249
we (only used when emphatic)
neither
οὔτεoute
G3777
not too · conjunction — negative
received
ἐδεξάμεθαedexametha
G1209
to receive (in various applications · verb — aorist middle deponent indicative, 1st person plural
letters
γράμματαgrammata
G1121
a writing · noun — accusative plural neuter
out
ἀπὸapo
G575
"off · preposition
Judæa
Ἰουδαίας,Ioudaias
G2449
the Judæan land (i.e. Judæa) · noun — genitive singular feminine, a place
concerning
περὶperi
G4012
properly · preposition
thee
σοῦsoû
G4675
of thee
neither
οὔτεoute
G3777
not too · conjunction — negative
any
τιςtis
G5100
some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — nominative singular masculine
brethren
ἀδελφῶνadelphōn
G80
a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (m… · noun — genitive plural masculine
came
παραγενόμενόςparagenomenos
G3854
to become near · verb — aorist middle participle, nominative singular masculine
shewed
ἀπήγγειλενapēngeilen
G518
to announce · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
or
ἢē
G2228
disjunctive · conjunction
spake
ἐλάλησένelalēsen
G2980
to talk · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
any
τιti
G5100
some or any person or object · indefinite pronoun — accusative singular neuter
harm
πονηρόν.ponēron
G4190
hurtful · adjective — accusative singular neuter
of
περὶperi
G4012
properly · preposition
thee
σοῦsoû
G4675
of thee
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
Isaiah 41:11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee s…
Isaiah 50:8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is t…
Acts 22:5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and wen…
Exodus 11:7 But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 28:17-22
Paul, with a great deal of expense and hazard, is brought a prisoner to Rome, and when he has come nobody appears to prosecute him or lay any thing to his charge; but he must call his own cause; and here he represents it to the chief of the Jews at Rome. It was not long since, by an edict of Claudius, all the Jews were banished from Rome, and kept out till his death; but, in the five years since then, many Jews had come thither, for the advantage of trade, though it does not appear that they were allowed any synagogue there or place of public worship; but these chief of the Jews were those of best figure among them, the most distinguished men of that religion, who had the best estates and in…
We neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, &c.--We need not suppose (with THOLUCK and others) that there was any dishonest concealment here. The distinction made between himself, against whom they heard nothing, and his "sect," as "everywhere spoken against," is a presumption in favor of their sincerity; and there is ground to think that as the case took an unexpected turn by Paul's appealing to CÃ&brvbrsar, so no information on the subject would travel from Jerusalem to Rome in advance of the apostle himself.
Adam Clarke on Acts 28:21
We neither received letters, etc. - This is very strange, and shows us that the Jews knew their cause to be hopeless, and therefore did not send it forward to Rome. They wished for an opportunity to kill Paul: and, when they were frustrated by his appeal to the emperor, they permitted the business to drop. Calmet supposes they had not time to send; but this supposition does not appear to be sufficiently solid: they might have sent long before Paul sailed; and they might have written officially by the vessel in which the centurion and the prisoners were embarked. But their case was hopeless; and they could not augur any good to themselves from making a formal complaint against the apostle at…
Then they also were so subdued by his speech, that they too apologized for those of their own nation: "And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came showed or spake any harm of thee." Neither through letters, nor through men, have they made known any harm of thee.
Observe them also speaking more mildly to him. "We beg," say they: and wish to speak in exculpation of those at Jerusalem. Whereas they ought to accuse them, they plead for them: by the very fact of their exonerating them, they do in fact accuse them. For this very thing was a proof that they knew themselves exceedingly in the wrong. Had they been confident, they would at any rate have done this, so that he should not have it in his power to make out his story in his own way, and besides they shrank from coming.
"But they said to him: We neither received letters concerning thee from Judea," etc. The Jews replied to Paul that they had had no opportunity to learn either by letters or by a messenger the things that he had just told; but they asked him, instead, to let them know what he had preached in other places. A day was appointed and when they came to Paul's lodgings, he spoke of the kingdom of the Lord Christ, who had clearly been promised by Moses and the Prophets. While some agreed, others were unbelieving and Paul, reproving them, quoted an example from Isaiah, declaring that the Gentiles would receive the salvation that they refused to receive. This statement caused the Jews to have no small reasoning among themselves. As for Paul, remaining two years in his own hired lodging, he continually instructed those who came to him about the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ: though bound with iron chains, he daily loosed believers' bonds of sins.
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
Judea — After the Captivity this name was applied to the whole of the country west of the Jordan (Hag. 1:1, 14; 2:2). But under the Romans, in the time of Christ, it denoted the southernmost of the three…
Melita — (Acts 27:28), an island in the Mediterranean, the modern Malta. Here the ship in which Paul was being conveyed a prisoner to Rome was wrecked. The bay in which it was wrecked now bears the name of…
Ships — Early used in foreign commerce by the Phoenicians (Gen. 49:13). Moses (Deut. 28:68) and Job (9:26) make reference to them, and Balaam speaks of the “ships of Chittim” (Num. 24:24). Solomon…
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 Gill on Acts 28:21
And they said unto him,.... That is, the chief men of the Jews at Rome, whom Paul had called together, replied; either in a lying and dissembling way, or as expressing matter of fact; which last may be allowed:
we neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee: which was very much, that the high priest and sanhedrim had not wrote to the principal men of their religion at Rome; giving an account of the apostle, and his case unto them, in order to prejudice them against him, and to furnish them with charges and accusations; which if they could not prevail by them, so as to get him condemned by the emperor, yet might be a means of preventing any of their nation giving heed unto him, and…
Acts 28:21-24
21. But they said unto him, We neither received letters from Judea touching thee, neither did any of the brethren come and show us or speak any evil of thee. 22. But we will hear of thee what thou thinkest; for as concerning that sect, we know that it is spoken against everywhere. 23. And when they had appointed him a day, many came to him to his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, and persuaded them of Jesus out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till night. 24. And certain believed those things which were spoken, but certain believed not.
21. Neither by letters. The priests and scribes did not hold their peace, because the…
