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Acts 6:13

13 They set up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law;

Acts 6:13 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 6:13

And set up false witnesses
Having hired them, they brought them and set them before the sanhedrim, to bear witness against Stephen:

which said, this man;
meaning Stephen, who was now before the council, at whom they pointed, and whose name, through contempt, they would not mention:

ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place;
either the city of Jerusalem, which is sometimes called the holy city, and which was foretold by the angel to Daniel, and by Christ, that it should be destroyed, and which Stephen might speak of; or rather the temple, so the Ethiopic version; in a part of which, or in a place contiguous to it, the sanhedrim might now be sitting:

and the law;
the ceremonial law: the sense is, that Stephen was continually telling the people, that in a little time their temple would be destroyed, and an end be put to temple worship, and to all the rituals and ceremonies of the law of Moses; the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions leave out the word "blasphemous"; and so do the Alexandrian copy, and Beza's most ancient one; but as Beza observes, it is certain, or at least it is most likely, that it was not omitted by the false witnesses; though speaking against the temple and the law was sufficient to make good a charge of blasphemy.

Acts 6:13 In-Context

11 Then they secretly instigated some men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
12 They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council.
13 They set up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law;
14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us."
15 And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
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.