Bible Strands
Acts 4:19
But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Peter and John address the Jewish council immediately after being commanded to cease speaking or teaching in Jesus’ name. They deliver their response during their second hearing before the authorities who ordered them to stop.
The words — ἀποκριθέντες (apokrithentes) = answering, which introduces their formal rebuttal to the council’s injunction. The text’s imperative to judge frames their reply as a direct appeal to divine standard rather than human authority.
The thread — The conflict between divine and human authority recurs in Exodus 1:17 where midwives disobey Pharaoh’s orders, and Acts 5:29 where Peter explicitly states the imperative to obey God over men. Paul echoes the call to personal discernment in 1 Corinthians 10:15.
Why it lands — The text commands the reader to evaluate the apostles’ defiance against the standard of God’s sight rather than human approval. It requires a direct alignment of obedience with divine revelation over institutional pressure.
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 Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Cross-references
- Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.
- Exodus 1:17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.
- 1 Corinthians 10:15 I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say.
- 1 Timothy 2:3 This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
- 1 Kings 22:14 But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.”
- John 7:24 Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”
- 1 Kings 12:30 And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.
- 1 Kings 14:16 So He will give Israel over on account of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”
- 1 Kings 21:11 So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel had instructed in the letters she had written to them.
- 2 Kings 16:15 Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, as well as the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings of all the people of the land. Splatter on the altar all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices. But I will use the bronze altar to seek guidance.”