Acts 5:33

33 When the leaders heard this, they became very angry. They wanted to put the apostles to death.

Acts 5:33 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 5:33

When they heard that
This defence of the apostles, in which they still insisted upon it, that they had been the crucifiers of Christ, and yet that he was raised from the dead, and exalted in heaven, and was a spiritual Saviour of men:

they were cut; to the heart,
as if they had been cut asunder with a saw; the Ethiopic version renders it, "they were angry", and "gnashed with their teeth", as if a saw was drawn to and fro; they were filled with rage and madness:

and took counsel to slay them;
not in a legal and judicial way, but in a private manner, or by force; stirring up the zealots to rise up against them, and dispatch them at once, as blasphemers and heretics.

Acts 5:33 In-Context

31 Now Jesus is Prince and Savior. God has proved this by giving him a place of honor at his own right hand. He did it so that he could turn Israel away from their sins and forgive them.

32 We are witnesses of these things. And so is the Holy Spirit. God has given the Spirit to those who obey him."

33 When the leaders heard this, they became very angry. They wanted to put the apostles to death.

34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel stood up in the Sanhedrin. He was a teacher of the law. He was honored by all the people. He ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while.

35 Then he spoke to the Sanhedrin. "Men of Israel," he said, "think carefully about what you plan to do to these men.