Acts 23:9

So the Council members ◄were divided/did not agree with each other►, and they began shouting at one another as they argued. Some of the teachers of the laws that God gave Moses who were Pharisees stood up. One of them said, “We (exc) think that this man has done nothing wrong.” Another said, “Maybe an angel or some other spirit really spoke to him and what he says is true.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.

In Context

8The Sadducees believe that after people die, they will not become alive again. They also believe that there are no angels and no other kinds of spirits. But the Pharisees believe that all people who have died will one day become alive again. They also believe that there are angels and other kinds of spirits.

10Then the Pharisees and Sadducees argued even more loudly with one another. As a result, the commander ◄was afraid/thought► that they would tear Paul to pieces. So he commanded soldiers to go down from the barracks and forcefully take Paul away from the Council members and bring him up into the barracks. So the soldiers did that.

Read all of Acts 23

Cross References

1 Samuel 24:17He said, “You are a better man than I am. You have done something very good to me when I tried to do something very bad to you.

Mark 2:16The men who taught the Jewish laws who were there and who were members of the Pharisee sect saw that Jesus was eating with men who collected taxes and others who were considered { whom they considered} to be sinners. So they said to his disciples, “◄It is disgusting that he eats with such disgusting men as those who collect taxes, and with other sinners!/Why is it that he eats with such disgusting men as those who collect taxes, and with other sinners?►” [RHQ]

Luke 23:4Pilate said to the chief priests and the rest of the crowd, “I do not conclude that this man is guilty of any crime.”

Luke 23:22He spoke to them a third time and asked them, “Why? What crime has he committed? I have concluded that he has done nothing for which he deserves to die. So I will have my soldiers flog him and then release him.”

Acts 5:39But, if God has commanded them to do it, you will not be able to prevent them from doing it, because you will find out that you are opposing God!” The other members of the Council accepted what Gamaliel said.

Acts 11:17God gave those non-Jews the same Holy Spirit that he had given to us (inc) after we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, ◄ I could not possibly tell God that he did wrong when he gave them the Holy Spirit!/how could I tell God that he did wrong when he gave them the Holy Spirit?► [RHQ] He was showing that he had received them!”

Matthew Henry on Acts 23:7-12

Paul's Second Defence. 6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. 7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. 9 And there arose a… Read the whole commentary →

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