to make or do (in a very wide application · verb — aorist active infinitive
whatsoever
ὅσαhosa
G3745
as (much · correlative pronoun — accusative plural neuter
thy
σοῦsoû
G4675
of thee
hand
χείρcheir
G5495
the hand (literally or figuratively (power) · noun — nominative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
thy
σοῦsoû
G4675
of thee
counsel
βουλήboulē
G1012
volition · noun — nominative singular feminine
before
προώρισενproōrisen
G4309
to limit in advance · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
done
γενέσθαι.genesthai
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — second aorist middle deponent infinitive
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 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do…
Matthew 26:24 The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he…
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, h…
Luke 24:44-46 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were w…
Acts 3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Acts 13:27-29 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabba…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 4:23-31
We hear no more at present of the chief priests, what they did when they had dismissed Peter and John, but are to attend those two witnesses. And here we have,
I. Their return to their brethren, the apostles and ministers, and perhaps some private Christians (Act 4:23): Being let go, they went to their own company, who perhaps at this time were met together in pain for them, and praying for them; as Act 12:12. As soon as ever they were at liberty, they went to their old friends, and returned to their church-fellowship. 1. Though God had highly honoured them, in calling them out to be his witnesses, and enabling them to acquit themselves so well, yet they were not puffed up with the honour do…
thy hand and thy counsel determined . . . to be done--that is, "Thy counsel" determined to be done by "Thy hand."
Adam Clarke on Acts 4:27
There is a parenthesis in this verse that is not sufficiently noticed: it should be read in connection with Act 4:28, thus: For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, (for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done), both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, were gathered together.
It is evident that what God's hand and counsel determined before to be done was not that which Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, (Romans), and the people of Israel had done and were doing; for, then, their rage and vain counsel would be such as God himself had determined should take place, which is both impious and absurd; but t…
For to do whatsoever thy hand,.... It was not the end of their gathering together against Christ, or it was not their intention and design, to fulfil the purposes and decrees of God, but to fulfil their own lusts, and satiate their rage and malice against him; but it was so in the event, according to the wise disposal of providence, that by their gathering together, by their consultations and conspiracies, they brought about what God in his everlasting council had decreed. By "the hand" of the Lord here is not meant, the grace and favour of God; or the power and providence of God; or his word of precept, his revealed will; but his secret will, the counsel of his will, the hidden purpose of h…
The Church Fathers
"Do whatever your hand and your will have ordained" (Acts 4:28): that is, they could not do it themselves, but you are the one who permitted and brought the whole matter to completion, namely prudent and wise. Indeed they had come together as enemies with savage intent, but they were doing what you wished.
The same intention remains evident. For there is no need for counsel where power is present. Therefore whatever things you ordained from the beginning were done by the Apostles, and so the prayer was not to repel troubles, but for the success of evangelical prayer; for they did not say, Free them, but, "grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness." (Acts 4:29)
Did then the wickedness of Christ's persecutors spring from God's plan, and was that unsurpassable crime prefaced and set in motion by the hand of God? Clearly we must not think this of the highest Justice: that which was fore-known in respect of the Jews' malice is far different, indeed quite contrary to what was ordained in respect of Christ's Passion. Their desire to slay Him did not proceed from the same source as His to die: nor were their atrocious crime and the Redeemer's endurance the offspring of One Spirit. The Lord did not incite but permit those madmen's naughty hands: nor in His foreknowledge of what must be accomplished did He compel its accomplishment, even though it was in order to its accomplishment that He had taken flesh.
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
Decrees of God — “The decrees of God are his eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, conditions, successions, and…
Predestination — This word is properly used only with reference to God’s plan or purpose of salvation. The Greek word rendered “predestinate” is found only in these six passages, Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29, 30; 1 Cor. 2:7;…
Providence — Literally means foresight, but is generally used to denote God’s preserving and governing all things by means of second causes (Ps. 18:35; 63:8; Acts 17:28; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). God’s providence…
Counsels And Purposes Of God, The · The sufferings and death of Christ were according to — The sufferings and death of Christ were according to
Predestination · 19:25; — 19:25;
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).
Acts 4:24-31
24. And when they had heard it, they lifted up their voice unto God with one accord, and said, Lord,, thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things which are therein; 25. Which by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why have the heathen raged together, and why have the people imagined vain things? 26. The kings of the earth have stood up, and the rulers have met together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27. For of a truth, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, have come together in this city against thy holy Son, Jesus, 28. That they might do whatsoever thine hand and thy counsel had decreed before to be…
God’s hand had been directing events all along in order to achieve his purpose. A similar awareness of God’s hand guiding the affairs of his people is found in the Old Testament (cp. Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 31; Neh 2:8, 18; Eccl 9:1; Ezek 8:1; Rom 8:28; 1 Pet 5:6).
