Acts 5:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 5:10
Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
to fall (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
straightway
παραχρῆμαparachrēma
G3916
at the thing itself · adverb
at
παράpará
G3844
properly
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
feet
πόδαςpodas
G4228
a "foot" (figuratively or literally) · noun — accusative plural masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
ghost
ἐξέψυξεν·exepsuxen
G1634
to expire · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
and
δὲde
G1161
but · conjunction
men
νεανίσκοιneaniskoi
G3495
a youth (under forty) · noun — nominative plural masculine
in
εἰσελθόντεςeiselthontes
G1525
to enter (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
and
δέdé
G1161
but
found
εὗρονheuron
G2147
to find (literally or figuratively) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
her
αὐτὴνautēn
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular feminine
dead
νεκράν,nekran
G3498
dead (literally or figuratively · adjective — accusative singular feminine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
carrying
ἐξενέγκαντεςexenegkantes
G1627
to bear out (literally or figuratively) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
forth
ἐκφέρωekphérō
G1627
to bear out (literally or figuratively)
buried
ἔθαψανethapsan
G2290
to celebrate funeral rites · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
by
πρὸςpros
G4314
a preposition of direction · preposition
her
αὐτῆς·autēs
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular feminine
husband
ἄνδραandra
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — accusative singular masculine
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 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 5:1-11
The chapter begins with a melancholy but, which puts a stop to the pleasant and agreeable prospect of things which we had in the foregoing chapters; as every man, so every church, in its best state has its but. 1. The disciples were very holy, and heavenly, and seemed to be all exceedingly good; but there were hypocrites among them, whose hearts were not right in the sight of God, who, when they were baptized, and took upon them the form of godliness, denied the power of godliness, and stopped short of that. There is a mixture of bad with good in the best societies on this side heaven; tares will grow among the wheat until the harvest. 2. It was the praise of the disciples that they came up…
buried her by her husband--The later Jews buried before sunset of the day of death.
Adam Clarke on Acts 5:10
Yielded up the ghost - See Act 5:5. It was not by Peter's words, nor through Peter's prayers, nor through shame, nor through remorse, that this guilty pair died, but by an immediate judgment of God. The question of the salvation of Ananias and Sapphira has not been a little agitated; and most seem inclined to hope that, though their sin was punished by this awful display of the Divine judgment, mercy was extended to their souls. For my own part, I think their sin was what the apostle, Jo1 5:16, calls a sin unto death; a sin which must be punished with temporal death, or the death of the body, while mercy was extended to the soul. It was right in this infant state of the Church to show God's…
Then fell she down straightway at his feet,.... In like manner, and by the same hand of God as her husband before:
and yielded up the ghost; died directly:
and the young men came in and found her dead; the young men who had been to inter her husband came into the house at that instant, and found her dead upon the floor, at the feet of the Apostle Peter:
and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband; as it was usual with the Jews to do. So they say (i), that in the cave of Machpelah were buried Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Leah.
(i) Cippi Hebraici, p. 4. T. Bab. Sota, fol. 13. 1.
The Church Fathers
How at his feet? For she stood near him. And he set her near, so that if she wished to repent and confess, she might not be ashamed before the others as one overheard. The fear of the wisest Peter toward those who have stumbled is not of hardheartedness, but of predictive teaching concerning the many sins of people that lie ahead. For when the seeds of the Gospel begin to be sown, and immediately the weeds which we have seen spring up, they would at once have uprooted them. Therefore Moses also ordered that the transgressor mentioned in the introductions of the law, and one who is to be destroyed for a slight sin, be declared by God to be cut off. The same thing likewise upon the first-created ones, therefore condemned by tasting of the tree. (see Gen. 3) For when a plague scourges, the more cunning becomes more senseless, according to the sacred proverb. (see Prov. 19:25) Therefore upon these things the punishment advanced as a gain for those present and seeing the things that happened. And indeed there were other signs that appeared, but there was not so great a fear. Therefore the Lord is known for executing judgment. (Ps. 9:5) For in the deeds of his hands, in the drama concerning the sinner, a beneficial fear is born in others. Even as in the case of Uzzah's punishment. (2 Sam. 6, 1 Chron. 13) For his chastisement became a fear to many, so that things placed before God were kept untouched by the disrespectful. It must be noted also from here, namely from the carrying out of the dead Ananias and his wife, through the same funeral rites, the law being disregarded. For even those who touched the corpse of Ananias did not remain unclean until evening, but the same persons also served the dead wife.
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
Ananias — A common Jewish name, the same as Hananiah. (1.) One of the members of the church at Jerusalem, who conspired with his wife Sapphira to deceive the brethren, and who fell down and immediately expired…
Burial, Sepulchres — [TOMBS] On this subject we have to notice—
Funeral — Burying was among the Jews the only mode of disposing of corpses (Gen. 23:19; 25:9; 35:8, 9, etc.). The first traces of burning the dead are found in 1 Sam. 31:12. The burning of the body was affixed…
Judgments of God — (1.) The secret decisions of God’s will (Ps. 110:5; 36:6). (2.) The revelations of his will (Ex. 21:1; Deut. 6:20; Ps. 119:7-175). (3.) The infliction of punishment on the wicked (Ex. 6:6; 12:12;…
Sapphira — Beautiful, the wife of Ananias (q.v.). She was a partner in his guilt and also in his punishment (Acts 5:1-11).
Ananias · of — of
Burial · General references — General references
Communism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Death Of The Wicked, The · Exemplified: Ananias, &c — Exemplified: Ananias, &c
Death, Natural · Is described as: Yielding up the spirit — Is described as: Yielding up the spirit
Ghost
John Calvin on Acts 5:7-11
Acts 5:7-11
7. And there was passed about the space of three hours, when his wife came in, ignorant of that which was done. 8. And Peter said unto her, Tell me, sold ye the field for so much? She answered, Surely, for so much. 9. And Peter said unto her, What is this that ye are agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those which have buried thy husband are at the door, which shall carry thee out. 10. And immediately she fell down at his feet, and gave up the ghost. Furthermore, when the young men came in, they found her dead, and when they had carried her out, they buried her beside her husband. 11. And there came great fear upon all the church, and upon all wh…
In lying about their property sale, Ananias was not just lying to others but to the Holy Spirit—that is, to God. His actions compromised the transparent sincerity, unity, and integrity of the church at its very foundation, and thus he fell under the direct judgment of God (cp. Lev 10:1-5; Josh 7:16-26).
Judgments · Upon individuals - Exemplified: Ananias, & c — Upon individuals - Exemplified: Ananias, & c
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Peter: Death of Sapphira — Peter: Death of Sapphira
Sapphira · Falsehood and — Falsehood and
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).
