Acts 24 7

Acts 24:7 kjv

But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands,

Acts 24:7 nkjv

But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands,

Acts 24 verses

Acts 24 7 Meaning

Acts 24:7 reads, "But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands." This verse, however, is considered a later addition to the New Testament text and is absent from the most ancient and reliable Greek manuscripts. Its presence in some manuscripts serves to explain, within Tertullus's speech, why the Jewish accusers were unable to try Paul themselves, shifting the blame for the lack of due process from them to the Roman chief captain, Lysias, by accusing him of forceful intervention. If included, it presents a continuation of the charges laid by Tertullus against Paul and the Sanhedrin, attempting to justify the accusers' failure to deal with Paul their way.

Acts 24 7 Context

Acts 24 narrates the trial of Paul before Governor Felix in Caesarea. Following Paul's arrest in Jerusalem and transfer to Caesarea to escape a plot against his life, the high priest Ananias and certain elders, accompanied by the orator Tertullus, arrived to formally accuse Paul. Tertullus's speech (Acts 24:2-8) is a classic example of forensic rhetoric, beginning with flattery of Felix and then moving to three main charges against Paul: being a plague/pestilent fellow, a ringleader of the Nazarene sect, and attempting to profane the temple.

Acts 24:7, though present in fewer and later manuscripts, serves within Tertullus's accusation to explain why the Jewish authorities did not deal with Paul themselves according to their law, as they had wished to do, making the argument that Lysias's violent intervention thwarted their legal process. Without this verse, Tertullus implies that Felix already knows that the "whom" (Lysias) interfered. Its omission in most modern translations highlights a direct flow from Tertullus charging Paul (Acts 24:5-6, 8) to his direct challenge for Felix to examine Paul personally.

Acts 24 7 Word analysis

• But (Greek: alla, ἀλλά): Introduces a contrast or exception. In this interpolated verse, it pivots to an explanation/accusation against Lysias.
• the chief captain (Greek: ho chiliarchos, ὁ χιλίαρχος): Refers to the military commander Lysias. A chiliarch was typically a commander of a thousand men, high-ranking Roman officer. Lysias had a key role in rescuing Paul in Jerusalem (Acts 21:31-35; Acts 23:26-30).
• Lysias (Greek: Lysias, Λυσίας): The Roman tribune in Jerusalem who intervened to save Paul from the mob and later sent him to Felix. This specific naming ties the interpolated verse to the actual events in Acts 21 and 23, but frames Lysias's actions from the accusers' negative perspective.
• came upon us (Greek: epelthon eph' hemas, ἐπελθὼν ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς): Suggests an unexpected, perhaps aggressive, or unwelcome intrusion. It depicts Lysias as the aggressor interrupting their justice.
• and with great violence (Greek: meta pollēs bias, μετὰ πολλῆς βίας): This is a strong accusation. The Greek word bia means force, compulsion, violence. This directly contradicts Lysias's own letter (Acts 23:26-30) where he presents his actions as a rescue prompted by Paul's Roman citizenship. This framing by Tertullus aims to portray Lysias as a disruptive force against Jewish legal rights, justifying why they couldn't simply punish Paul as they saw fit.
• took him away (Greek: exarpauseni, ἐξήρπασεν): From exarpazo, meaning to snatch away, seize, or rescue with force. In this context, it emphasizes the sudden and forceful removal of Paul from their alleged jurisdiction. Again, this choice of word, similar to "great violence," serves Tertullus's rhetorical purpose to malign Lysias's intervention.
• out of our hands (Greek: ek tōn cheirōn hēmōn, ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν): This implies Paul was in their control or jurisdiction. Tertullus suggests the Sanhedrin had the right to try Paul and were actively doing so, but Lysias prevented it. This statement aims to reinforce their grievance about not being allowed to carry out their "justice."

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "But the chief captain Lysias came upon us": This phrase frames Lysias's arrival as an unwanted interference, directly challenging the narrative of a rescue operation presented elsewhere in Acts (Acts 21:31-36; Acts 23:26-30). It sets the stage for blaming him.
• "and with great violence took him away": This explicitly characterizes Lysias's intervention as brutal and forceful. This contrasts with the notion of Roman order and protection for a citizen. It highlights the rhetorical strategy of the accusers to portray themselves as victims and Paul as unjustly protected from their "rightful" judgment.
• "out of our hands": This suggests that the Jewish leaders felt they had a right, if not already possession, of Paul for judgment. This emphasizes their frustrated authority and attempt to regain control over their internal affairs and religious laws.

Acts 24 7 Bonus section

The vast majority of modern English Bible translations (e.g., ESV, NIV, NASB, RSV, NRSV) either omit Acts 24:7 entirely or place it in footnotes or brackets, explicitly noting its textual uncertainty. Translations like the King James Version (KJV) and New King James Version (NKJV) retain the verse because they are based on the Textus Receptus, a Greek New Testament text derived from a family of later Byzantine manuscripts, which contain this verse. This discrepancy is a classic example of textual criticism at work, where scholars examine hundreds of ancient manuscripts to reconstruct the most probable original text. The verse's content—blaming Lysias for Paul's removal—serves a polemical function within Tertullus's speech against the Roman authorities who prevented the Sanhedrin from exercising their preferred form of "justice." It attempts to justify their presence before Felix as a result of external interference rather than a direct failure to handle Paul's case under their own jurisdiction.

Acts 24 7 Commentary

Acts 24:7 is a unique case in New Testament textual criticism. Its absence in key early manuscripts (like Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and Alexandrinus) leads modern scholarship to conclude it was a scribal insertion. Such interpolations were sometimes made to smooth narrative transitions, clarify ambiguities, or add perceived missing details. In this instance, a scribe might have thought Tertullus's speech flowed better by explicitly mentioning Lysias's intervention, bridging the gap from Tertullus's statement of accusation (Acts 24:6a) to his appeal for Felix to examine Paul (Acts 24:8a). The verse, if original, would portray Lysias negatively from the Jewish leaders' perspective, contrasting sharply with Lysias's own account of his actions (Acts 23:26-30), where he intervened to protect a Roman citizen from mob violence. Its absence, however, makes Tertullus's rhetoric more concise and impactful, implying that Felix already understood the circumstances of Paul's transfer. The verse, though non-original, thus provides a rhetorical insight into the accusers' framing of events if it had been included, twisting the Roman's role from protector to interfering agent.