Bible Strands
Acts 7:54
On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Stephen addresses the Sanhedrin after delivering his concluding indictment about their rejection of God's messengers. The council members react immediately to his final accusation, before the narrative shifts to Stephen's vision in Acts 7:55.
The words — The Greek διεπρίοντο (dieprionto) literally means they felt cut up or torn apart, paired with καρδίαις (kardiais) for hearts. This visceral phrasing describes their internal rage rather than mere external anger.
The thread — This reaction echoes the Council's earlier fury in Acts 5:33 and parallels the hostile imagery found in Psalms 35:16 and Job 16:9. The text places Stephen's persecution within a long pattern of righteous suffering met with violent opposition.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that faithful witness will provoke entrenched religious authority. It requires the reader to expect hostility when confronting institutional rejection of divine truth.
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
When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.
Cross-references
- Acts 5:33 When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.
- Psalms 35:16 Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.
- Job 16:9 His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
- Matthew 13:50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 25:30 And throw that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Luke 13:28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves are thrown out.
- Psalms 112:10 The wicked man will see and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the desires of the wicked will perish.
- Lamentations 2:16 All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”
- Matthew 8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Matthew 13:42 And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.