Passage

Acts 1.7

"He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority'" (Acts 1:7, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"5. For John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence. 6. They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, dost thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

"7. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within His own authority."

"8. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. 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." (Acts 1:5-9, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"5. For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6. Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?""

"7. He said to them, "It isn't for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority."

"8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth." 9. When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight." (Acts 1:5-9, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"5. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"

"7. And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power."

"8. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. ^{power: or, the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you} 9. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." (Acts 1:5-9, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"5. because John, indeed, baptized with water, and ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, after not many days.' 6. They, therefore, indeed, having come together, were questioning him, saying, 'Lord, dost thou at this time restore the reign to Israel?'"

"7. and he said unto them, 'It is not yours to know times or seasons that the Father did appoint in His own authority;"

"8. but ye shall receive power at the coming of the Holy Spirit upon you, and ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the end of the earth.' 9. And these things having said, they beholding, he was taken up, and a cloud did receive him up from their sight;" (Acts 1:5-9, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Jesus, in His final words before the ascension
Audience: the eleven apostles (Acts 1:13 lists them), gathered on the Mount of Olives (1:12)
Location: the Mount of Olives, outside Jerusalem
Time period: c. AD 30-33, forty days after the resurrection (1:3)

Theological reading

Acts 1:6 records the apostles' final pre-ascension question, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" The disciples have spent forty days with the risen Christ; they still expect a near-term political-eschatological denouement. Jesus' answer in v. 7 is the apostolic-era charter against date-setting.

The reply is structurally significant on three counts. First, Jesus does not deny that the times and epochs exist. He affirms them. The Father has fixed (etheto, aorist middle, "appointed, placed by His own decree") the times and epochs en tē idia exousia, "in His own authority." The eschatological calendar is real and determinate; it is simply non-disclosed.

Second, Jesus declines to disclose them. Ouch hymōn estin gnōnai, "it is not yours to know." The verb gnōnai (aorist infinitive of [[G1492 - oida|ginōskō / oida]]) names epistemic-access; Jesus is not saying these things are unknowable in principle but that they have not been given to the apostles. The pre-ascension non-answer parallels the pre-passion non-answer at Mark 13:32 and Matt 24:36, "of that day or hour no one knows... but the Father alone." The Father's exclusive prerogative over eschatological timing is the consistent NT pattern across all four Gospels and Acts.

Third, Jesus redirects to mission. Verse 8 immediately pivots: "but you will receive power... you shall be My witnesses." The apostolic vocation is not calculating when the kingdom comes but bearing witness until it does. The structure (question about timing → refusal → mission mandate) becomes the church's standing pattern: every speculative eschatological calendar is a refusal to inhabit Acts 1:8.

The two Greek words for time, chronos and [[G2540 - kairos|kairos]], are paired in v. 7. Chronos names duration (clock-time); kairos names the appointed moment (covenant-time). Together they cover the full eschatological calendar: how long, and when. Both are sealed to apostolic curiosity. The verse is the canonical proof-text against eschatological date-setting, Harold Camping (1994, 2011), the Watchtower Society's serial predictions (1914, 1925, 1975, 1994, etc.), William Miller (1843, 1844), and the entire genre of "the rapture will happen by..." books. The exegetical move is direct: if the apostles themselves were told this is not theirs to know, no subsequent interpreter has standing to claim what they were denied.

The verse also functions as a two-stage messianic prophecy anchor (see Two-Stage Messianic Prophecy). The disciples' question presupposes a single-stage messianic restoration; Jesus' answer redirects them to the gap between first and second comings, a gap whose duration the Father has fixed and not disclosed.

Key words

G1492 - oida, oida / ginōskō, "to know"; the verb of cognitive-access denied to the apostles here.
G2540 - kairos, kairos, "appointed time, opportune moment, covenant-season"; paired with chronos to cover the eschatological calendar.
chronos (G5550), "time, duration, clock-time"; the paired companion to kairos.
exousia (G1849), "authority, prerogative, right"; the Father's exclusive jurisdiction over eschatological timing.

Theological themes

Eschatological timing is the Father's prerogative. Acts 1:7 parallels Mark 13.32 and Matthew 24.36 in sealing the timetable to the Father alone.
Date-setting is per se illicit. The verse is the standing rebuke to every predicted-rapture book and every messianic-year claim.
Mission replaces speculation. The pivot to v. 8 makes witness, not calculation, the apostolic-era posture.
Two-stage messianic structure. Jesus' refusal to give a date for the kingdom's restoration presupposes the first-coming / second-coming gap.

Cross-references

Mark 13.32, the Olivet-discourse parallel; the Son's stated non-knowledge of the hour.
Matthew 24.36, the synoptic parallel; "of that day and hour no one knows."
Two-Stage Messianic Prophecy, the hermeneutic that organizes the question Jesus declines.
Eschatology, the domain hub.

Quoted in

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.