Acts 5:40
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles unto them, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And he seemed to them to be right: and they sent for the Apostles, and, after having them whipped and giving them orders to give no teaching in the name of Jesus, they let them go.
Webster's Revision
And to him they assented: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
World English Bible
They agreed with him. Summoning the apostles, they beat them and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles unto them, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
Definitions for Acts 5:40
Clarke's Acts 5:40 Bible Commentary
To him they agreed - That is, not to slay the apostles, nor to attempt any farther to imprison them; but their malevolence could not be thus easily satisfied; and therefore they beat them - probably gave each of them thirty-nine stripes; and, having commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, they let them go. It was of Jesus they were afraid: not of the apostles. They plainly saw that, if the doctrine of Christ was preached, it must prevail; and, if it prevailed, they must come to nought. It was a wise saying of the popish bishops in the time of Queen Mary - If we do not put down this Printing, it will put us down: They labored to put down the printing, but they could not; and, under God, the printing, by exposing the wickedness of their doctrine and practices, and especially by multiplying copies of the New Testament, did most effectually put them down.
Barnes's Acts 5:40 Bible Commentary
And to him they agreed - Greek: They were "persuaded" by him; or they trusted to him. They agreed only so far as their design of putting them to death was concerned. They abandoned that design. But they did "not" comply with his advice to let them entirely alone.
And beaten them - The usual amount of "lashes" which were inflicted on offenders was 39, 2 Corinthians 11:24. "Beating," or "whipping," was a common mode of punishing minor offences among the Jews. It was expressly foretold by the Saviour that the apostles would be subjected to this, Matthew 10:17. The reason why they did not adopt the advice of Gamaliel altogether doubtless was, that if they did, they feared that their "authority" would be despised by the people. They had commanded them not to preach; they had threatened them Acts 4:18; Acts 5:28; they had imprisoned them Acts 5:18; and now, if they suffered them to go without even the "appearance" of punishment, their authority, they feared, would be despised by the nation, and it would be supposed that the apostles had triumphed over the Sanhedrin. It is probable, also, that they were so indignant, that they could not suffer them to go without the gratification of subjecting them to the public odium of a "whipping." People, if they cannot accomplish their full purposes of malignity against the gospel, will take up with even some petty annoyance and malignity rather than let it alone.
