Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Acts 23:11 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 11. 11And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Brings the Lord's nighttime reassurance and Rome commission.
Read It With
- Acts 23:10-23:12
Read Acts 23:11 with 23:10-23:12. In isolation, this contribution—brings the Lord's nighttime reassurance and Rome commission—can be mistaken for the scene's whole claim, detached from its speaker or narrator, or separated from its outcome. The complete unit establishes: The Lord stands by Paul at night and says that as he testified in Jerusalem he must also testify in Rome.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Brings the Lord's nighttime reassurance and Rome commission. This precise contribution belongs inside “The Lord confirms witness in Rome” because The Lord stands by Paul at night and says that as he testified in Jerusalem he must also testify in Rome.
Follow the Context
- The Lord stands by Paul at night and says that as he testified in Jerusalem he must also testify in Rome.
- The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The reassurance does not guarantee safety, make private night experiences self-authenticating, or turn Rome into a sacred political center.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not detach its specific contribution—brings the Lord's nighttime reassurance and Rome commission—from Acts 23:11 or negate the unit's explicit boundary: The reassurance does not guarantee safety, make private night experiences self-authenticating, or turn Rome into a sacred political center.
What Remains True
Acts 23:11's particular contribution—brings the Lord's nighttime reassurance and Rome commission—shows that faithful witness remains accountable to the verse's speaker, narrated setting, affected people, and the complete movement of Acts 23:11.
How It Can Shape Life
- Practice Acts 23:11's particular contribution—brings the Lord's nighttime reassurance and Rome commission—through this passage-controlled response: Let reassurance strengthen faithful witness under custody without treating a personal promise to Paul as a guarantee for every journey.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 23:11's precise role in Acts 23:11. 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 23:11 — The Lord confirms witness in RomeSources 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 23:11, 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 23:11
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 23:11
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 23:11
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 'The Defense of the Gospel,' Acts 21-23 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 23:11
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Provincial Contexts of Paul's Imprisonments: Law Enforcement and Criminal Procedure in the Roman East
Cedric Brelaz
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 43.4, 2021
Supports: Roman law-enforcement comparison with explicit local variation and limits on reconstructing procedure.
Exact location: Brelaz, JSNT 43.4 (2021), complete open HTML, section 1 and the named provincial, custody, citizenship, hearing, or conclusion paragraphs bearing on Acts 23:11
Open source ↗