Acts 4:17

But to keep this message from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in this name.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Jewish council addresses the apostles immediately after admitting a publicly known miracle cannot be denied. They speak to contain the apostles' message before it escalates among the populace.

The words — διανεμηθῇ (dianemēthēa) literally means "it may spread" and denotes the council's fear of the message's rapid dissemination. ἵνα (ina) paired with μὴ (mē) forms a negative purpose clause, "that not," framing their warning as a deliberate preventive measure.

The thread — The text notes the council's attempt to silence the apostles, which directly parallels Acts 5:28 where the same leaders cite their strict prior orders against teaching in Jesus' name. The pattern of hostile authorities opposing God's messengers appears in 1 Thessalonians 2:15.

Why it lands — The text states that human leaders actively warn against speaking in a specific name to stop a message from spreading. It requires the reader to recognize the limits of institutional control and respond to the message rather than the fearful authorities attempting to suppress it.

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

But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.

Cross-references

Acts 5:28 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”
Romans 15:18 I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,
1 Thessalonians 2:15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
Acts 5:24 When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard this account, they were perplexed as to what was happening.
1 Thessalonians 1:8 For not only did the message of the Lord ring out from you to Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone out to every place, so that we have no need to say anything more.
2 Chronicles 25:15 Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet, who said, “Why have you sought this people’s gods, which could not deliver them from your hand?”
Psalms 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
Isaiah 30:8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.
Jeremiah 20:1 When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,
Jeremiah 29:25 this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “In your own name you have sent out letters to all the people of Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests. You said to Zephaniah: