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Acts 26:11

King James Version (KJV)

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— D.L. Moody

Acts 26:11

Verse 11 of 32

Scripture focus

And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled [them] to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted [them] even unto strange cities.

Acts 26:11 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Acts 26:11

Theological / Devotional

In every synagogue. Apparently the early believers did not separate themselves from the synagogues, but continued to worship with their Jewish brethren there and in the Temple (Acts 2:46). For the synagogues as places of punishment see Matt. 10:17; 23:34; Mark 13:9; Luke 12:11; Vol. V, p. 56. About A.D. 205 Tertullian called the Jewish synagogues fountains of persecution (Scorpiace 10).

Compelled. Literally, “kept compelling,” or “was trying to force.”

To blaspheme. That is, to renounce belief in Christ as the Messiah (cf. Lev. 24:11—16). Pliny (c. A.D. 108) found Christians preferring death to denouncing Christ (Letters x. 96).

Mad. Literally, “angry,” “furious.” Paul had been a religious fanatic, perhaps partly in an attempt to smother the pleadings of the Holy Spirit (see 1 Tim. 1:13).

Strange cities. That is, foreign cities, meaning cities beyond the borders of Palestine.

By SdaBc