Bible Strands
Acts 5:2
With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds for himself, but brought a portion and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Ananias and Sapphira's coordinated action immediately after selling a field, prior to Peter's confrontation in the next verse.
The words — The Greek verb ἐνοσφίσατο (enosphisato) literally means "he kept back" or "withheld," while συνειδυίης (suneiduiēs) denotes his wife was "already being aware" of the transaction.
The thread — This sequence of withholding a portion of a sacred offering runs parallel to the covert theft of devoted things in Joshua 7:11 and stands in direct contrast to the full surrender recorded in Acts 4:37.
Why it lands — The text states that Ananias retained money with full spousal awareness before presenting a fraction, demanding the reader recognize that deliberate partial compliance is functionally identical to deception.
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 kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Cross-references
- Acts 4:37 sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
- 2 Peter 2:14 Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.
- Joshua 7:11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant that I commanded them, and they have taken some of what was devoted to destruction. Indeed, they have stolen and lied, and they have put these things with their own possessions.
- 2 Kings 5:21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”
- Malachi 1:14 “But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.
- Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you ask, ‘How do we rob You?’ In tithes and offerings.
- Matthew 6:2 So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
- Matthew 23:5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
- John 12:6 Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.
- Acts 4:34 There were no needy ones among them, because those who owned lands or houses would sell their property, bring the proceeds from the sales,