Acts 23:34

34 So [after] reading [the letter] and asking what province he was from, and learning that [he was] from Cilicia,

Acts 23:34 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 23:34

And when the governor, had read the letter
Which he doubtless opened and read as soon as he had received it, not knowing what important business might be contained in it, or of what dangerous consequence a neglect of reading it might be; this showed care and diligence in him:

he asked of what province he was;
since he perceived by the letter he was a Roman, and that he might know whether he was under his jurisdiction, and whether the hearing of his case belonged to him; and it should seem that it rather belonged to the governor of Syria; but that the crimes he was charged with were committed in Judea, particularly that of profaning the temple.

And when he understood that he was of Cilicia;
which was a Roman province, in which Tarsus was, where Paul was born free; ( Acts 21:39 ) ( 22:3 ) .

Acts 23:34 In-Context

32 And on the next day they let the horsemen go on with him, [and] they returned to the barracks.

33 {The horsemen}, [when they] came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, also presented Paul to him.

34 So [after] reading [the letter] and asking what province he was from, and learning that [he was] from Cilicia,

35 he said, "I will give you a hearing whenever your accusers arrive also," giving orders [for] him to be guarded in the praetorium of Herod.

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[after]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("reading") which is understood as temporal
• [b]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation