Acts 6:13

where they presented false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Opponents who seized Stephen bring him before the Sanhedrin and present false witnesses to accuse him. The witnesses speak during the confrontation before the Jewish ruling council.

The words — ψευδεῖς (pseudeis) translates literally as false, and μαρτύρας (martyras) means witnesses. The text states the accusers presented these specific individuals to testify against Stephen.

The thread — False accusations against righteous figures appear in Psalms 27:12 and Acts 21:28. The pattern of prompted testimony against God’s messengers continues in Acts 6:11.

Why it lands — The text records how opponents manufactured charges to secure a conviction. Readers must recognize that religious authority can be manipulated through fabricated testimony to silence truth-tellers.

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 set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

Cross-references

Acts 6:11 Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”
Acts 21:28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and against our law and against this place. Furthermore, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”
Psalms 27:12 Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.
Psalms 35:11 Hostile witnesses come forward; they make charges I know nothing about.
Psalms 56:5 All day long they twist my words; all their thoughts are on my demise.
Matthew 24:15 So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
Acts 7:58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts 25:8 Then Paul made his defense: “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.”