to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
unto
πρὸςpros
G4314
a preposition of direction · preposition
them
αὐτούς·autous
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative plural masculine
men
ἄνδρεςandres
G435
a man (properly as an individual male) · noun — vocative plural masculine
Israel
Ἰσραηλῖται,Israēlitai
G2475
an "Israelite" · noun — vocative plural masculine, a people name
heed
προσέχετεprosechete
G4337
(figuratively) to hold the mind (3563 implied) towards · verb — present active imperative, 2nd person plural
yourselves
ἑαυτοῖςhe'autois
G1438
him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
what
τίti
G5101
an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — accusative singular neuter
intend
μέλλετεmellete
G3195
to intend · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person plural
do
πράσσειν.prassein
G4238
to "practise" · verb — present active infinitive
touching
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
these
τούτοιςtoútois
G5125
to (for
men
ἀνθρώποιςanthrōpois
G444
from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι)) · noun — dative plural 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
Jeremiah 26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him…
Matthew 27:19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered m…
Acts 19:36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.
Acts 22:26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 5:26–end
We are not told what it was that the apostles preached to the people; no doubt it was according to the direction of the angel - the words of this life; but what passed between them and the council we have here an account of; for in their sufferings there appeared more of a divine power and energy than even in their preaching. Now here we have,
I. The seizing of the apostles a second time. We may think, if God designed this, "Why were they rescued from their first imprisonment?" But this was designed to humble the pride, and check the fury, of their persecutors; and now he would show that they were discharged, not because they feared a trial, for they were ready to surrender themselves and ma…
Theudas--not the same with a deceiver of that name whom JOSEPHUS mentions as heading an insurrection some twelve years after this [Antiquities, 20.5.1], but some other of whom he makes no mention. Such insurrections were frequent.
Adam Clarke on Acts 5:35
What ye intend to do - Τι μελλετε πρασσειν, What ye are about to do: they had already intended to destroy them; and they were now about to do it.
John Gill on Acts 5:35
And said unto them, ye men of Israel,.... This he said after the apostles were put out, when the council was by themselves; and he addressed them as "men of Israel"; not as distinct from the priests and Levites in the council, but because they were all of the stock of Israel; for this council did not consist of Israelites only, as distinct from priests and Levites, as appears from Acts 5:21. A sanhedrim commonly consisted of each of these; though if only of Israelites it was a lawful one. Maimonides says (c),
"they did not use to appoint any in the sanhedrim, but priests, Levites, and Israelites, that were genealogized and fit to be married into the priesthood---and that it was a command, t…
"Ye men of Israel take heed to yourselves." See here, I pray you, how mildly Gamaliel reasons, and how he says but a few words to them, and does not recount ancient histories, although he might have done so, but more recent instances, which are most powerful to produce belief. With this view he throws out a hint himself, saying, "For before these days" meaning, not many days before. Now had he at once said, "Let these men go," both himself would have fallen into suspicion, and his speech would not have been so effective: but after the examples, it acquired its own proper force.
"When I had thus spoken, the whole multitude of the priests were in a rage, because I had foretold to them the overthrow of the temple. Which when Gamaliel, a chief of the people, saw — who was secretly our brother in the faith, but by our advice remained among them — because they were greatly enraged and moved with intense fury against us, he stood up, and said, [Acts 5:35-39] 'Be quiet for a little, O men of Israel, for you do not perceive the trial which hangs over you. Wherefore refrain from these men; and if what they are engaged in be of human counsel, it will soon come to an end; but if it be from God, why will you sin without cause, and prevail nothing? For who can overpower the will of God? Now therefore, since the day is declining towards evening, I shall myself dispute with these men tomorrow, in this same place, in your hearing, so that I may openly oppose and clearly confute every error.' By this speech of his their fury was to some extent checked, especially in the hope that next day we should be publicly convicted of error; and so he dismissed the people peacefully."
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
Gamaliel — Reward of God. (1.) A chief of the tribe of Manasseh at the census at Sinai (Num. 1:10; 2:20; 7:54, 59). (2.) The son of rabbi Simeon, and grandson of the famous rabbi Hillel. He was a Pharisse, and…
Sanhedrim — More correctly Sanhedrin (Gr. synedrion), meaning “a sitting together,” or a “council.” This word (rendered “council,” A.V.) is frequently used in the New Testament (Matt. 5:22; 26:59; Mark 15:1,…
Scribes — Anciently held various important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V.,…
Courts Of Justice · Judges of: Conferred together before giving judgment — Judges of: Conferred together before giving judgment
Gamaliel · .Speech of, before the Sanhedrin — .Speech of, before the Sanhedrin
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 5:34-39
Acts 5:34-39
34. And a certain Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, precious to all the people, rising in the council, commanded the apostles to be carried out a little space. 35. Then he said unto them, Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves, what ye intend to do touching these men. 36. For before these days there arose one Theudas, saying, that he was some great man, to whom consented a number of men, about four hundred, who perished; and they were all scattered abroad which had obeyed him, and were brought to nought. 37. After him arose one Judas of Galilee, in the days of the tribute, and led away much people after him, and he likewise perished; and all which had obeyed him we…
Gamaliel was an eminent Pharisee, a leader in the Jewish high council, and a famous teacher of the law. He was Paul’s teacher during his rabbinical education (see 22:3).
