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THE MESSAGE

Acts 12:2

This verse is not available in the MSG!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Beheading;   Herod;   Homicide;   James;   Jerusalem;   King;   Martyrdom;   Persecution;   Punishment;   Rulers;   Thompson Chain Reference - Beheading;   James;   Martyrs;   Men-Pleasers;   Nation, the;   Pleasing Men;   Popularity Sought;   Punishments;   Suffering for Righteousness' S;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Martyrdom;   Murder;   Punishments;   Sword, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Herod;   James;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Apostle;   Execution;   Herod;   James the apostle;   Judea;   Martyr;   Peter;   Rome;   Ruler;   Weapons;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Death of Christ;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Prayer;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Agrippa I.;   Apostle;   Behead;   Drusilla;   Herod Agrippa I.;   James;   Prayer;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Acts of the Apostles;   James;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Acts;   Hebrews;   Herod;   James;   James, the Letter;   Jews in the New Testament;   John;   Persecution in the Bible;   Squad;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Crimes and Punishments;   Herod;   James;   Mark, Gospel According to;   Peter;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Brethren;   Brethren of the Lord (2);   Herod;   James ;   James and John, the Sons of Zebedee;   Martyr;   Missions;   Peter;   Saviour (2);   Surname;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Herod, Family of;   James, Son of Zebedee;   New Testament;   Smith Bible Dictionary - James;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Armor;   James;   Persecution;   Quaternion;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - James;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.
King James Version (1611)
And he killed Iames the brother of Iohn with the sword.
King James Version
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
English Standard Version
He killed James the brother of John with the sword,
New American Standard Bible
And he had James the brother of John executed with a sword.
New Century Version
He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed by the sword.
Amplified Bible
And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.
Legacy Standard Bible
And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.
Berean Standard Bible
He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
Contemporary English Version
He ordered soldiers to cut off the head of James, the brother of John.
Complete Jewish Bible
and he had Ya‘akov, Yochanan's brother, put to death by the sword.
Darby Translation
and slew James, the brother of John, with the sword.
Easy-to-Read Version
He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed with a sword.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And he killed Iames the brother of Iohn with the sword.
George Lamsa Translation
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Good News Translation
He had James, the brother of John, put to death by the sword.
Lexham English Bible
So he executed James the brother of John with a sword.
Literal Translation
And with a sword he did away with James the brother of John.
American Standard Version
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Bible in Basic English
And he put James, the brother of John, to death with the sword.
Hebrew Names Version
He killed Ya`akov, the brother of Yochanan, with the sword.
International Standard Version
He even had James the brother of John killed with a sword.Matthew 4:21; 20:23;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
And he killed with the sword Jakub the brother of Juhanon.
Murdock Translation
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he killed Iames the brother of Iohn with the sworde.
English Revised Version
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
World English Bible
He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And he slew James, the brother of John, with the sword.
Weymouth's New Testament
and James, John's brother, he beheaded.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And he slowe bi swerd James, the brothir of Joon.
Update Bible Version
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Webster's Bible Translation
And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
New English Translation
He had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword.
New King James Version
Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
New Living Translation
He had the apostle James (John's brother) killed with a sword.
New Life Bible
He killed James, the brother of John, with a sword.
New Revised Standard
He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And slew James the brother of John with a sword;
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he killed James, the brother of John, With the sword.
Revised Standard Version
He killed James the brother of John with the sword;
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And he kylled Iames the brother of Iohn with the swerde:
Young's Literal Translation
and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
As for Iames the brother of Ihon, him he slewe with the swerde.
Mace New Testament (1729)
he caus'd James the brother of John to be beheaded.
Simplified Cowboy Version
He had James killed with a sword. James was one of the twelve original cowboys (the brother of John).

Contextual Overview

1That's when King Herod got it into his head to go after some of the church members. He murdered James, John's brother. When he saw how much it raised his popularity ratings with the Jews, he arrested Peter—all this during Passover Week, mind you—and had him thrown in jail, putting four squads of four soldiers each to guard him. He was planning a public lynching after Passover.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

James: Matthew 4:21, Matthew 4:22, Matthew 20:23, Mark 10:35, Mark 10:38

with: 1 Kings 19:1, 1 Kings 19:10, Jeremiah 26:23, Hebrews 11:37

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 17:36 - seeing Psalms 37:14 - wicked Daniel 11:33 - yet Matthew 10:2 - James Matthew 23:34 - ye Matthew 24:9 - shall they Mark 1:19 - James Mark 6:21 - when Mark 10:39 - Ye Luke 6:14 - James Luke 11:49 - and some Luke 21:16 - and some Acts 1:13 - Peter

Cross-References

Genesis 12:4
So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound. Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.
Genesis 12:8
He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God .
Genesis 12:9
Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.
Genesis 12:10
Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, "Look. We both know that you're a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they're going to say, ‘Aha! That's his wife!' and kill me. But they'll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you're my sister. Because of you, they'll welcome me and let me live."
Genesis 12:14
When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. Pharaoh's princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.
Genesis 12:16
Because of her, Abram got along very well: he accumulated sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, men and women servants, and camels. But God hit Pharaoh hard because of Abram's wife Sarai; everybody in the palace got seriously sick.
Genesis 12:18
Pharaoh called for Abram, "What's this that you've done to me? Why didn't you tell me that she's your wife? Why did you say, ‘She's my sister' so that I'd take her as my wife? Here's your wife back—take her and get out!"
Genesis 15:5
Then he took him outside and said, "Look at the sky. Count the stars. Can you do it? Count your descendants! You're going to have a big family, Abram!"
Genesis 19:29
And that's the story: When God destroyed the Cities of the Plain, he was mindful of Abraham and first got Lot out of there before he blasted those cities off the face of the Earth.
Genesis 35:11
God continued, I am The Strong God. Have children! Flourish! A nation—a whole company of nations!— will come from you. Kings will come from your loins; the land I gave Abraham and Isaac I now give to you, and pass it on to your descendants.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. This was James, the son of Zebedee, whom our Lord told, that he should be baptized with the baptism he was baptized with, Matthew 20:22 meaning the baptism of martyrdom; and he was the first martyr among the apostles: the death he was put to was one of the four capital punishments among the Jews, and was reckoned by them the most disgraceful of them all, and was inflicted upon deceivers of the people; and such an one James was thought to be e.

e Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 1, 3. & 11. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And he killed ... - He caused to be put to death with a sword, either by beheading, or piercing him through. The Roman procurators were entrusted with authority over life, though in the time of Pilate the Jews had not this authority.

James, the brother of John - This was the son of Zebedee, Matthew 4:21. He is commonly called James the Greater, in contradistinction from James, the son of Alpheus, who is called James the Less, Matthew 10:3. In this manner were the predictions of our Saviour respecting him fulfilled, Matthew 20:23, “Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 12:2. He killed James the brother of John with the sword. — This was James the greater, son of Zebedee, and must be distinguished from James the less, son of Alpheus. This latter was put to death by Ananias the high priest, during the reign of Nero. This James with his brother John were those who requested to sit on the right and left hand of our Lord, see Matthew 20:23; and our Lord's prediction was now fulfilled in one of them, who by his martyrdom drank of our Lord's cup, and was baptized with his baptism. By the death of James, the number of the apostles was reduced to eleven; and we do not find that ever it was filled up. The apostles never had any successors: God has continued their doctrine, but not their order.

By killing with the sword we are to understand beheading. Among the Jews there were four kinds of deaths:

1. Stoning;

2. burning;

3. killing with the sword, or beheading; and,

4. strangling.

The third was a Roman as well as a Jewish mode of punishment. Killing with the sword was the punishment which, according to the Talmud, was inflicted on those who drew away the people to any strange worship, Sanhedr. fol. iii. James was probably accused of this, and hence the punishment mentioned in the text.


 
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