Bible Strands
Acts 17:11
Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Luke narrates the Bereans' response to Paul and Silas in the Jewish synagogue, the night after they fled Thessalonica.
The words — εὐγενέστεροι (eugenesteroi) is the comparative of εὐγενής, a word for noble birth or high social rank, here applied to intellectual disposition.
The thread — Isaiah 34:16 commands the reader to search and read the scroll of the LORD to verify; John 5:39 shows the same act of poring over Scripture producing the opposite result when the reader misses its point.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to treat Scripture as the standard by which any teacher's claim is tested, not as decoration or confirmation.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 34:16 Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of these will go missing, not one will lack her mate, because He has ordered it by His mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit.
- Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you accept my words and hide my commandments within you,
- John 5:39 You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,
- 1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we continually thank God because, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is also now at work in you who believe.
- Matthew 13:23 But the seed sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and produces a crop—a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.”
- 1 Peter 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully,
- Proverbs 9:9 Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.
- 2 Peter 1:19 We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt. And you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
- Proverbs 1:5 let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel
- 2 Timothy 3:15 From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.