Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Acts 20:32 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 32. 32And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Entrusts the elders to God and the grace word able to build and give inheritance.
Read It With
- Acts 20:32–20:38
Read Acts 20:32 with 20:32–20:38. In isolation, this contribution—entrusts the elders to God and the grace word able to build and give inheritance—can be mistaken for the scene's whole claim, detached from its speaker or narrator, or separated from its outcome. The complete unit establishes: Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Entrusts the elders to God and the grace word able to build and give inheritance. This precise contribution belongs inside “Grace, work, generosity, prayer, and grief close the farewell” because Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
Follow the Context
- Paul entrusts the elders to God and the word of grace, denies coveting wealth, points to his own labor and aid to the weak, cites Jesus on giving, kneels in prayer, and shares a tearful farewell.
- The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—entrusts the elders to God and the grace word able to build and give inheritance—from Acts 20:32–20:38 or negate the unit's explicit boundary: The farewell does not shame paid ministers, suppress grief, romanticize separation, or make one leader's work pattern compulsory.
What Remains True
Acts 20:32's particular contribution—entrusts the elders to God and the grace word able to build and give inheritance—shows that faithful witness remains accountable to the verse's speaker, narrated setting, affected people, and the complete movement of Acts 20:32–20:38.
How It Can Shape Life
- Practice Acts 20:32's particular contribution—entrusts the elders to God and the grace word able to build and give inheritance—through this passage-controlled response: Entrust communities to God's grace, work without exploiting them, support the weak, and allow grief and affection to remain part of faithful farewell.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 20:32's precise role in Acts 20:32–20:38. Distinguish narrator and speaker, include the first Jewish, Gentile, household, disabled, enslaved, imprisoned, or Roman horizon as relevant, disclose the material uncertainty, and name one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Acts 20:32–20:38 — Grace, work, generosity, prayer, and grief close the farewellSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 20:32–20:38, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 20:32-20:38
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 20:32-20:38
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 20:32–20:38
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Co-operative Ministry,' Acts 18-20 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 20:32–20:38
Open source ↗