Acts 5:23

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!"

Acts 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 5:23

Saying, the prison truly found we shut with all safety,
&c.] Locked, barred and bolted;

and the keepers standing without before the doors;
both inner and outer in their proper places, diligently discharging their office:

but when we had opened we found no man within;
that is, none of the apostles, for there might be other prisoners in it, who were not released by this means.

Acts 5:23 In-Context

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.

25 But someone came [and] reported to them, "Behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple [courts] and teaching the people!"

Footnotes

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