Bible Strands
Acts 2:23
He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter addresses a gathered Jewish crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, pointing directly at them as the agents of Jesus' execution.
The words — ὡρισμὸς (hōrismos) literally means "a bounding, a limiting," suggesting a fixed boundary rather than a vague intention; προγνῶσις (prognōsis) is "fore-knowledge," knowledge held before the event.
The thread — The same "determined beforehand" language appears in Acts 4:28 and Luke 22:22; Genesis 50:20 applies the pattern to Joseph's brothers, where human evil intent and divine purpose coexist without either being erased.
Why it lands — The verse refuses to let the reader choose between God's sovereignty and the crowd's guilt; both are asserted in the same breath, and the "you" is not a generic "they" but the people in the room.
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
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Cross-references
- Acts 4:28 They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen.
- Genesis 50:20 As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
- Luke 22:22 Indeed, the Son of Man will go as it has been determined, but woe to that man who betrays Him.”
- Acts 3:18 But in this way God has fulfilled what He foretold through all the prophets, saying that His Christ would suffer.
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- 1 Peter 1:20 He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
- Acts 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.
- Matthew 26:24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
- Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging Him on a tree.
- Acts 13:27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning Him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath.