Passage

Acts 10.15

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

13. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 14. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean.

15. And a voice came unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.

And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven. 17. Now while Peter was much perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men that were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood before the gate, (Acts 10:13-17, ASV)

WEB

13. A voice came to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat!” 14. But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

15. A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”

This was done three times, and immediately the vessel was received up into heaven. 17. Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood before the gate, (Acts 10:13-17, WEB)

KJV

13. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. 14. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

15. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. 17. Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate, (Acts 10:13-17, KJV)

YLT

13. and there came a voice unto him: 'Having risen, Peter, slay and eat.' 14. And Peter said, 'Not so, Lord; because at no time did I eat anything common or unclean;'

15. and [there is] a voice again a second time unto him: 'What God did cleanse, thou, declare not thou common;'

and this was done thrice, and again was the vessel received up to the heaven. 17. And as Peter was perplexed in himself what the vision that he saw might be, then, lo, the men who have been sent from Cornelius, having made inquiry for the house of Simon, stood at the gate, (Acts 10:13-17, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the voice in Peter's vision
Audience: Peter
Location: Joppa
Time period: c. AD 40

Theological reading

What God has cleansed, do not call common. The sentence is the hinge of the Cornelius narrative and of the Gentile mission that follows from it.

The verb is significant: the cleansing is presented as an accomplished divine act, not a permission or a relaxation. Peter is not being told that the distinction never mattered but that God has acted with respect to it.

Peter cites this moment twice more, at 11:9 in his report to Jerusalem and in substance at the council of chapter 15, so the narrative treats it as the decisive datum for the question of Gentile inclusion. See Mosaic Law Binding for True Israelites Objection Defeater for the use made of the sequence, and Mark 7:18-19 for the saying it presupposes.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

G4314 - pros, pros, Strong's G4314
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Atheism, via Acts 10.9-16
Ritual Purity Laws Objection, via Acts 10.9-16

Notes

Your annotations.

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.