Acts 11:6

6 and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air.

Acts 11:6 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 11:6

Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes
Not of his body, but of his mind; for this was only in vision presented to him, when he was as Paul was, not knowing whether in the body or out of it:

I considered:
being intent upon this object, he considered in his mind what it was, and what it should mean; it being something strange and unusual; which came down from heaven, and out of it, and came so close and near to him, that it engrossed all his thoughts, and was the subject of deep meditation:

and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and
creeping things, and fowls of the air;
not pourtrayed upon the sheet, but standing or walking upon it; the Syriac Version leaves out, "the wild beasts"; and the Ethiopic versions, "the creeping things"; but both are in the Greek copies, and in other versions.

Acts 11:6 In-Context

4 But Peter began speaking and proceeded to explain to them in orderly sequence, saying,

5 "I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet lowered by four corners from the sky; and it came right down to me,

6 and when I had fixed my gaze on it and was observing it I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild beasts and the crawling creatures and the birds of the air.

7 "I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.'

8 "But I said, 'By no means, Lord , for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "and I saw"
• [b] Or "reptiles"
• [c] Or "heaven"