Passage

Acts 1.11

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

9. And when he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10. And while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

11. who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is nigh unto Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey off. 13. And when they were come in, they went up into the upper chamber, where they were abiding; both Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. (Acts 1:9-13, ASV)

WEB

9. When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10. While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white clothing,

11. who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky, will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13. When they had come in, they went up into the upper room, where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. (Acts 1:9-13, WEB)

KJV

9. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;

11. Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. 13. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. (Acts 1:9-13, KJV)

YLT

9. And these things having said, they beholding, he was taken up, and a cloud did receive him up from their sight; 10. and as they were looking stedfastly to the heaven in his going on, then, lo, two men stood by them in white apparel,

11. who also said, 'Men, Galileans, why do ye stand gazing into the heaven? this Jesus who was received up from you into the heaven, shall so come in what manner ye saw him going on to the heaven.'

Then did they return to Jerusalem from the mount that is called of Olives, that is near Jerusalem, a sabbath's journey; 13. and when they came in, they went up to the upper room, where were abiding both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James, of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zelotes, and Judas, of James; (Acts 1:9-13, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: two men in white clothing, addressing the apostles
Audience: the eleven apostles
Location: the Mount of Olives, near Bethany, outside Jerusalem
Time period: forty days after the resurrection, immediately before Pentecost

Theological reading

A rebuke of staring, and a promise about the manner of return. "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

The verb for the apostles' watching is etheasasthe, from theaomai, sustained beholding. Luke uses it twice in the sentence, once of the going and once, by implication, of the manner of the return. The choice matters: the ascension is presented as something attended to at length by a group, not as a vision granted to an individual.

"In just the same way" (hon tropon). The phrase governs manner, not timing or location. What it most naturally asserts is that the return will be bodily, visible, and from the sky, corresponding to a departure that was bodily, visible, and into the sky. Attempts to extract more from it, an exact geography or a schedule, are pressing an adverbial phrase past what it carries, and the codex does not build eschatological detail on it.

The rebuke is functional. The question "why do you stand looking" is followed in verse 8 by the commission and in verse 12 by their return to Jerusalem. The point is not that gazing is wrong but that the interval is for something. The pattern recurs across Luke and Acts: an appearance, a commission, a movement outward.

Apologetic relevance. The ascension is often treated as the most embarrassing element of the resurrection narrative, on the assumption that it presupposes a three-tiered cosmology with heaven as a place upward. The text's own emphasis is on withdrawal from sight rather than on travel through space, and the cloud in verse 9 is standard biblical theophany vocabulary rather than meteorology. That is a reasonable reply and not a complete one; the honest position is that the account is describing a departure in terms available to its witnesses, and that its evidential weight rests on the same eyewitness claims as the appearances themselves.

Key words

theaomai (G2300), to behold, watch attentively; the verb of the apostles' observation. See G2300 - theaomai.
analambanō (G0353), to take up; the ascension verb, also used in the Septuagint of Elijah.
tropos (G5158), manner, way; the term governing "in just the same way."
nephelē (G3507), cloud; theophany vocabulary rather than weather.
G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424

Cross-references

Acts 1:8, the commission the rebuke redirects them toward
Luke 24:51, the parallel ascension notice in the Gospel
John 20:29, the shift from seeing to testifying
G2300 - theaomai, the beholding verb

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

G2300 - theaomai

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.