Passage

Acts 4.13

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

11. He is the stone which was set at nought of you the builders, which was made the head of the corner. 12. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.

13. Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

And seeing the man that was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, (Acts 4:11-15, ASV)

WEB

11. He is ‘the stone which was regarded as worthless by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.’ 12. There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”

13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. They recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, (Acts 4:11-15, WEB)

KJV

11. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. 15. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, (Acts 4:11-15, KJV)

YLT

11. 'This is the stone that was set at nought by you, the builders, that became head of a corner; 12. and there is not salvation in any other, for there is no other name under the heaven that hath been given among men, in which it behoveth us to be saved.'

13. And beholding the openness of Peter and John, and having perceived that they are men unlettered and plebeian, they were wondering, they were taking knowledge also of them that with Jesus they had been

and seeing the man standing with them who hath been healed, they had nothing to say against [it], 15. and having commanded them to go away out of the sanhedrim, they took counsel with one another, (Acts 4:11-15, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Luke, as narrator
Audience: Theophilus and Luke's readers
Location: before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem
Time period: shortly after Pentecost, c. AD 30

Theological reading

Now when they beheld the boldness of Peter and John, and had perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

The two adjectives are harsher in English than in Greek. Agrammatoi means without formal scribal training, not illiterate. Idiotai means private persons, laymen, not idiots. The Sanhedrin's assessment is that these are men without rabbinic credentials, which in that room was a statement about standing rather than intelligence.

The observation that follows is the verse's centre and it is put in the mouth of hostile witnesses: they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. The council recognises the source of the boldness, and Luke lets the opposition make the point rather than making it himself.

Verse 14 adds the detail that seals the scene: the healed man was standing with them, and they could say nothing against it. The court cannot dispute the fact and so falls back on prohibiting the speech, which is the shape of the whole conflict in Acts 4 and 5.

The apologetic weight is in the concession. The earliest official Jewish response recorded in Acts does not deny that a healing occurred or that the disciples had been Jesus's companions. It objects to the preaching. That is a very different posture from denying the underlying events. See Resurrection of Jesus.

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.

G2424 - Iesous, Iesous, Strong's G2424

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Notes

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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.