Acts 5:22

22 But the officers who came did not find them in the prison, and they returned [and] reported,

Acts 5:22 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 5:22

But when the officers came
The Arabic version adds, "to it"; that is, to the prison;

and found them not in the prison.
The Vulgate Latin version reads, "the prison being opened they found them not"; when they came to the prison, they opened the doors of it, or the keepers for them; for though the angel had opened them for the apostles, yet he shut them again, as he brought them out; for these men found the doors shut, as the following verse shows, and who upon opening them and searching the prison, for the apostles, could find none of them in it; wherefore they returned; the Arabic version reads, "to them"; to the sanhedrim:

and told;
that is, them, as both the Arabic and Ethiopic versions read.

Acts 5:22 In-Context

20 "Go and stand in the temple [courts] [and] proclaim to the people all the words of this life."

21 And [when they] heard [this], they entered at daybreak into the temple [courts] and began teaching. Now [when] the high priest and those with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin--even the whole council of elders of the sons of Israel--and sent to the prison to have them brought.

22 But the officers who came did not find them in the prison, and they returned [and] reported,

23 saying, "We found the prison locked with all security and the guards standing at the doors, but [when we] opened [them], we found no one inside!"

24 Now when both the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed concerning them, [as to] what this might be.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "[when they] came"
• [b]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("returned") has been translated as a finite verb