Acts 6:12

12 This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.

Acts 6:12 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 6:12

And they stirred up the people
The common people, who were easily wrought upon, and soon incensed and provoked, when at any time it was suggested to them that the rituals and ceremonies of the law of Moses were treated with any neglect or contempt; see ( Acts 21:27 Acts 21:28 ) .

And the elders and the Scribes;
who belonged to the sanhedrim, to whom they reported these things, as persons, under whose cognizance they properly came:

and came upon him;
at an unawares, and in an hostile way:

and caught him;
seized him with violence:

and brought him to the council;
the great sanhedrim, then sitting at Jerusalem, to whom it belonged to judge of blasphemy.

Acts 6:12 In-Context

10 None of them could stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.
11 So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, “We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God.”
12 This roused the people, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council.
13 The lying witnesses said, “This man is always speaking against the holy Temple and against the law of Moses.
14 We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Greek Sanhedrin; also in 6:15 .
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