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New Century Version

Acts 6:11

So they secretly urged some men to say, "We heard Stephen speak against Moses and against God."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Accusation, False;   Blasphemy;   Court;   Falsehood;   False Teachers;   Government;   Greece;   Indictments;   Intolerance, Religious;   Jerusalem;   Perjury;   Persecution;   Stephen;   Witness;   Thompson Chain Reference - False;   Witnesses, False;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Blasphemy;   Church of Israel;   Jews, the;   Law of Moses, the;   Slander;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Blasphemy;   Deacon;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Blasphemy;   Moses;   Sanhedrin;   Stephen;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Deacon;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Grecians;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Church Government;   Mark, Gospel According to;   Nicolas;   Stephen;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Blasphemy ;   Moses;   Persecution;   Pharisees (2);   Reproach (2);   Temple;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Stephen;   Suborn, to;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Blasphemy;   Stephen;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Blasphemy;   Deacon;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Church Government;   Deacon;   Ministry;   Papyrus;   Suborn;   Text and Manuscripts of the New Testament;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
King James Version (1611)
Then they suborned men which said, We haue heard him speake blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
King James Version
Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
English Standard Version
Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
New American Standard Bible
Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
Amplified Bible
Then [to attack him another way] they secretly instructed men to say, "We have heard this man [Stephen] speak blasphemous (slanderous, sacrilegious, abusive) words against Moses and against God."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God."
Legacy Standard Bible
Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
Berean Standard Bible
Then they prompted some men to say, "We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God."
Contemporary English Version
So they talked some men into saying, "We heard Stephen say terrible things against Moses and God!"
Complete Jewish Bible
So they secretly persuaded some men to allege, "We heard him speak blasphemously against Moshe and against God."
Darby Translation
Then they suborned men, saying, We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.
Easy-to-Read Version
So they told some men to say, "We heard Stephen say bad things against Moses and against God!"
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then they suborned men, which saide, We haue heard him speake blasphemous wordes against Moses, and God.
George Lamsa Translation
Then they sent men and instructed them to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.
Good News Translation
So they bribed some men to say, "We heard him speaking against Moses and against God!"
Lexham English Bible
Then they secretly instigated men who said, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!"
Literal Translation
Then they induced some men to be saying, We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God!
American Standard Version
Then they suborned men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Bible in Basic English
Then they got men to say, He has said evil against Moses and against God, in our hearing.
Hebrew Names Version
Then they secretly induced men who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moshe and God."
International Standard Version
So they secretly got some men to say, "We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."1 Kings 21:10,13; Matthew 26:59-60;">[xr]
Etheridge Translation
Then they sent men and instructed them to say, We have heard him speak words of blasphemy against Musha and against Aloha.
Murdock Translation
Then they sent men, and instructed them to say: We have heard him speak words of blasphemy, against Moses and against God.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then they priuilie prepared men, whiche sayde, we haue heard him speake blasphemous wordes agaynst Moyses, and agaynst God.
English Revised Version
Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
World English Bible
Then they secretly induced men who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Then they suborned men who said, We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and against God.
Weymouth's New Testament
Then they privately put forward men who declared, "We have heard him speak blasphemous things against Moses and against God."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thanne thei priueli senten men, that schulden seie, that thei herden hym seiynge wordis of blasfemye ayens Moises and God.
Update Bible Version
Then they suborned men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and [against] God.
Webster's Bible Translation
Then they suborned men, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and [against] God.
New English Translation
Then they secretly instigated some men to say, "We have heard this man speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God."
New King James Version
Then they secretly induced men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
New Living Translation
So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, "We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God."
New Life Bible
So they told other men to say, "We have heard him say things against Moses and God."
New Revised Standard
Then they secretly instigated some men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then, they set on men who were saying - We have heard him speaking profane things against Moses and God.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Then they suborned men to say they had heard him speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.
Revised Standard Version
Then they secretly instigated men, who said, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God."
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Then sent they in men which sayd: we have hearde him speake blasphemous wordes agaynst Moses and agaynst God.
Young's Literal Translation
then they suborned men, saying -- `We have heard him speaking evil sayings in regard to Moses and God.'
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sent they in certayne men, that sayde: We haue herde him speake blasphemous wordes agaynst Moses, and agaynst God.
Mace New Testament (1729)
they suborned men, who said, we have heard him speak irreverently of Moses, and of God.
THE MESSAGE
So in secret they bribed men to lie: "We heard him cursing Moses and God."
Simplified Cowboy Version
When they couldn't beat him, they had some scoundrels lie and say they heard Steve talk crap about Moses, and even God.

Contextual Overview

8 Stephen was richly blessed by God who gave him the power to do great miracles and signs among the people. 9 But some people were against him. They belonged to the synagogue of Free Men (as it was called), which included people from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and Asia. They all came and argued with Stephen. 10 But the Spirit was helping him to speak with wisdom, and his words were so strong that they could not argue with him. 11 So they secretly urged some men to say, "We heard Stephen speak against Moses and against God." 12 This upset the people, the elders, and the teachers of the law. They came and grabbed Stephen and brought him to a meeting of the leaders. 13 They brought in some people to tell lies about Stephen, saying, "This man is always speaking against this holy place and the law of Moses. 14 We heard him say that Jesus from Nazareth will destroy this place and that Jesus will change the customs Moses gave us." 15 All the people in the meeting were watching Stephen closely and saw that his face looked like the face of an angel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

they: Acts 23:12-15, Acts 24:1-13, Acts 25:3, Acts 25:7, 1 Kings 21:10, 1 Kings 21:13, Matthew 26:59, Matthew 26:60, Matthew 28:12-15, John 16:3, Romans 3:8

blasphemous: Acts 6:13, Acts 18:6, Acts 26:11, Leviticus 24:16, 1 Kings 21:10-13, John 10:33-36, 1 Timothy 1:13

against Moses: Acts 7:37-39, Acts 15:21, Acts 21:20-22, Acts 21:28, John 1:17, John 5:45-47, John 9:29, Hebrews 3:2-5

Reciprocal: Exodus 23:1 - an unrighteous witness Leviticus 19:16 - stand Leviticus 24:11 - blasphemed Psalms 27:12 - false Psalms 52:2 - Thy Proverbs 19:28 - An ungodly witness Isaiah 32:7 - lying Jeremiah 20:10 - Report Jeremiah 26:11 - for he Jeremiah 37:13 - Thou Ezekiel 22:9 - men that carry tales Zechariah 11:3 - for their Matthew 9:3 - This Mark 13:9 - take Mark 14:55 - sought Luke 5:21 - blasphemies John 9:28 - but Acts 7:58 - stoned Acts 24:9 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
The number of people on earth began to grow, and daughters were born to them.
Genesis 6:2
When the sons of God saw that these girls were beautiful, they married any of them they chose.
Genesis 7:1
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are the best person among the people of this time, so you and your family can go into the boat.
Genesis 10:9
He was a great hunter before the Lord , which is why people say someone is "like Nimrod, a great hunter before the Lord ."
Genesis 13:13
Now the people of Sodom were very evil and were always sinning against the Lord .
2 Chronicles 34:27
When you heard my words against this place and its people, you became sorry for what you had done and you humbled yourself before me. You tore your clothes to show how upset you were, and you cried in my presence. This is why I have heard you, says the Lord .
Psalms 11:5
The Lord tests those who do right, but he hates the wicked and those who love to hurt others.
Psalms 55:9
Lord, destroy and confuse their words, because I see violence and fighting in the city.
Psalms 140:11
Don't let liars settle in the land. Let evil quickly hunt down cruel people.
Isaiah 60:18
There will be no more violence in your country; it will not be ruined or destroyed. You will name your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then they suborned men,.... Hired false witnesses, which seems to have been commonly done by the Jews; so they did in the case of Christ:

which said, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God; that is, against the law of Moses, and so against God, who gave the law to Moses, as appears from Acts 6:13 the blasphemous words seem to be, with respect to the ceremonial law, and the abrogation of it, which Stephen might insist upon, and they charged with blasphemy; see Acts 6:14.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then they suborned men - To suborn in law means to procure a person to take such a false oath as constitutes perjury (Webster). It has substantially this sense here. It means that they induced them to declare what was false, or to bring a false accusation against him. This was done, not by declaring a palpable and open falsehood, but by “perverting” his doctrines, and by stating their own “inferences” as what he had actually maintained - the common way in which people oppose doctrines from which they differ. The Syriac reads this place, “Then they sent certain men, and instructed them that they should say, etc.” This was repeating an artifice which they had before practiced so successfully in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. See Matthew 26:60-61.

We have heard ... - When they alleged that they had heard this is not said. Probably, however, they referred to some of his discourses with the people when he performed miracles and wonders among them, Acts 6:8.

Blasphemous words - See the notes on Matthew 9:3. Moses was regarded with profound reverence. His laws they held to be unchangeable. Any intimation, therefore, that there was a greater Lawgiver than he, or that his institutions were mere shadows and types, and were no longer binding, would be regarded as blasphemy, even though it should be spoken with the highest professed respect for Moses. That the Mosaic institutions were to be changed, and give place to another and a better dispensation, all the Christian teachers would affirm; but this was not said with a design to blaspheme or revile Moses. “In the view of the Jews,” to say that was to speak blasphemy; and hence, instead of reporting what he actually “did” say, they accused him of “saying” what “they” regarded as blasphemy. If reports are made of what people say, their very “words” should be reported; and we should not report our inferences or impressions as what they said.

And against God - God was justly regarded by the Jews as the giver of theft law and the author of their institutions. But the Jews, either willfully or involuntarily, not knowing that they were a shadow of good things to come, and were therefore to pass away, regarded all intimations of such a change as blasphemy against God. God had a right to change or abolish those ceremonial observances, and it was “not” blasphemy in Stephen to declare it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 6:11. Then they suborned men — υπεβαλον. They made underhand work; got associated to themselves profligate persons, who for money would swear any thing.

Blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. — This was the most deadly charge they could bring against him. We have already seen, Matthew 9:4, that blasphemy, when against GOD, signifies speaking impiously of his nature, attributes, or works; and, when against men, it signifies speaking injuriously of their character, blasting their reputation, c. These false witnesses came to prove that he had blasphemed Moses by representing him as an impostor, or the like and GOD, by either denying his being, his providence, the justice of his government, &c.


 
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