Actes 10:30

30 Alors Corneille dit: Il y a quatre jours, à cette heure, que j'étais en jeûne et en prières dans ma maison à la neuvième heure, et tout d'un coup un homme, couvert d'un vêtement resplendissant, se présenta devant moi,

Actes 10:30 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 10:30

And Cornelius said
The Syriac version adds, "to him", to the apostle; the following he said, in a very submissive and humble manner:

four days ago I was fasting unto this hour;
in the Greek text it is, "from the fourth day unto this hour I was fasting": which looks as if he had been fasting four days, and was still fasting at that hour; though the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions leave out the phrase "I was fasting": but the sense which our version and others give is the truest; that four days ago, or reckoning four days back, Cornelius was fasting on that day, until such time in that day as now it was in this present day; and which perhaps might be the ninth hour, or three o'clock in the afternoon: the account of days exactly agrees; as soon as Cornelius had had the vision, he sends men to Joppa, which was one day; on the morrow they came to Joppa, which makes two days; Peter lodged them all night there, and the next day set out on the journey with them, so you have three days; and the day after that, which was the fourth, he entered into Caesarea, and came to Cornelius's house, where he now was:

and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house;
which was one of the stated times of prayer; (See Gill on Acts 3:1).

And behold a man stood before me in bright clothing;
or "in a white garment", as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read: which was an emblem of the excellency, glory, and purity of the angel, and of the divine majesty in him: he calls him a man, because he appeared in the form of one, as angels used to do.

Actes 10:30 In-Context

28 Et il leur dit: Vous savez qu'il est défendu à un Juif de se lier avec un étranger, ou d'aller chez lui; mais Dieu m'a appris à ne dire aucun homme souillé ou impur.
29 C'est pourquoi, ayant été appelé, je suis venu sans aucune difficulté. Je vous demande donc pour quel sujet vous m'avez fait venir.
30 Alors Corneille dit: Il y a quatre jours, à cette heure, que j'étais en jeûne et en prières dans ma maison à la neuvième heure, et tout d'un coup un homme, couvert d'un vêtement resplendissant, se présenta devant moi,
31 Et dit: Corneille, ta prière est exaucée, et Dieu s'est souvenu de tes aumônes.
32 Envoie donc à Joppe, et fais venir Simon, surnommé Pierre; il est logé dans la maison de Simon, corroyeur, près de la mer; quand il sera venu, il te parlera.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.