Acts 5:33

33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

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 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."
33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time.
35 Then he said to them, "Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.