Bible Strands
Acts 4:24
When the believers heard this, they lifted up their voices to God with one accord. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The whole group of believers, not only Peter and John, addresses God directly after reporting the Sanhedrin's threat (Acts 4:23). They pray in unison, opening with a declaration of God's creative sovereignty.
The words — ὁμοθυμαδόν (homothumadon) is a rare compound meaning literally "of one soul/heart," used only a handful of times in the New Testament; it marks this as a single corporate voice rather than a collection of individual prayers.
The thread — The formula "heavens and earth and sea and all that is in them" echoes the creation language of Exodus 20:11 and the prayer of Nehemiah 9:6, and the sovereignty claim parallels Jeremiah 32:17. It is a standard opening that establishes God's authority before any petition follows.
Why it lands — The text shows the community's first response to a threat of violence is not self-defense but prayer that begins by naming God as Creator of everything, including the oppressors. It asks the reader to see that the proper posture under pressure is to address the One who made the threat, not to negotiate with 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
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
Cross-references
- Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
- Jeremiah 32:17 “Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- Nehemiah 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all things, and the host of heaven worships You.
- 2 Kings 19:15 And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD: “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
- Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
- Psalms 146:5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice at all times.
- Isaiah 51:12 “I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?
- 2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.
- 2 Kings 19:19 And now, O LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”