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Acts 23:12-14

King James Version (KJV)

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— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

12. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14. And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul.

Acts 23:12-14 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 23:12

Theological / Devotional

Certain of the Jews. Important textual evidence may be cited (cf. p. 10) for reading simply “the Jews.” According to v. 13 there were about 40 of them. They were apparently in deadly earnest, and certain that their plot would succeed. Compare the murder committed by Mattathias, the old priest of Modin, at the time of the Maccabean revolt (1 Macc. 2:24; Josephus Antiquities xii. 6. 2 [268–278]), and the attempt to assassinate Herod the Great when he built an amphitheater and introduced gladiatorial games into Jerusalem (Josephus Antiquities xv. 8. 3).

Bound themselves under a curse. Gr. anathematizō, “to anathematize,” “to declare accursed,” “to bind under a curse [if an oath is not fulfilled].” These men invited upon themselves the most severe divine penalties if they failed to achieve their objective. Compare the Hebrew charam (see on 1 Sam. 15:3).

Neither eat nor drink. By such a vow the would-be assassins demonstrated both their fanaticism and their determination to kill Paul quickly.

By SdaBc