Bible Strands
Acts 5:9
“How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter replied. “Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Peter speaks directly to Ananias’s wife immediately after she confirms the sale price matches her husband’s deception. He delivers this warning at the moment the burial party arrives at the doorway.
The words — The Greek τί (ti) means “why” or “what,” and ὅτι (hoti) functions as “that” or “for.” These particles frame Peter’s direct question about their agreement to test the Lord.
The thread — The prohibition against testing divine authority appears in 1 Corinthians 10:9 and recalls the wilderness rebellion in Psalms 95:8. The same Holy Spirit is identified as the deceived party in Acts 5:3.
Why it lands — The text states that deception against the Spirit triggers immediate divine judgment. It requires readers to acknowledge spiritual authority as absolute rather than conditional.
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
Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 10:9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.
- Psalms 95:8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
- Acts 5:3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land?
- Psalms 78:56 But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.
- Psalms 78:18 They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
- Psalms 78:40 How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
- Acts 15:10 Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?
- Genesis 3:9 But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
- Exodus 17:2 So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
- Exodus 17:7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”