Acts 25:15

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, asking for a sentence against him.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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καταδίκην

katadikázō

G2613

“to condemn”

Noun, Accusative, Singular, Feminine

Appears 6× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Matthew 12:7

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: from G2596 and a derivative of G1349

TDNT: 13:21,4

1. to give judgment against (one), to pronounce guilty 2. to condemn

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

18: words
16: distinct lemmas
Acts: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is καταδίκην to condemn G2613 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

καταδίκην to condemn G2613 occurs in 5 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse:

οἱ the G3588 ×3

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Acts 25:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Esther 3:9 If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have the charge of the [king's] business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.
Luke 18:3–5 A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, 'Defend me from my adversary!'
Luke 23:23 But they were urgent with loud voices, asking that he might be crucified. Their voices and the voices of the chief priests prevailed.
Acts 24:1 After five days, the high priest, Ananias, came down with certain elders and an orator, one Tertullus. They informed the governor against Paul.
Acts 25:1–3 Festus therefore, having come into the province, after three days went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Notes on Acts 25:15 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Meyer's Critical & Exegetical Commentary

Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer

Act_25:15-16. Αἰτούμενοι κ.τ.λ.] asking for punishment against him. That δίκην (comp. 2Th_1:9; Jud_1:7) is so to be taken (according to its very frequent use by the classical writers, see Reiske, Ind. Dem. p. 162 f.; Ast, Lex. Plat. I. p. 538), is shown by Act_25:16. Comp. the passages with αἰτ. δίκ. in Wetstein.

πρὶν ἤ] refers to the conception of condemnation contained in καρίζεσθαι. As to the principle of Roman law here expressed, see Grotius in loc., and on Act_16:37. Likewise as to the Greek law, see Dissen, ad Dem. de cor. p. 160. On the optative with πρίν after a negative clause, when the matter is reported ut in cogitatione posita, see Klotz, ad Devar. p. 726.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Act 25:15 . ἀρχ . καὶ οἱ πρεσβ ., see on Act 25:2 . ἐνεφάνισαν , see Act 25:21 . δίκην , see critical note. If we read καταδίκην = “sentence,” R.V., i.e. , of condemnation; LXX, Symm., Psa 89:3 , Wis 12:27 ; so in Polyb., xxvi., 5, 1.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 15. Desiring to have judgment against him.] Instead of δικην, judgment, καταδικην, condemnation, sentence of death, is the reading of ABC, and several others, which is probably genuine. This is evidently the meaning of the place, whichever reading we prefer. Nothing could satisfy these men but the death of the apostle. It was not justice they wanted, but his destruction.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

15. the chief priests] See note on Act_25:2.

desiring to have judgment against him] The older MSS. give a stronger word for “judgment” than the Text. Recept. It implies that they held there could be but one opinion and that a condemnatory sentence might be at once pronounced, even by the newly arrived governor.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

About whom, when I was at Jerusalem,.... Quickly after he came to his government:

the chief priests and elders of the Jews informed me; brought an accusation to him, exhibited to him charges against him, presented to him a bill of information, setting forth various crimes he had been guilty of:

desiring to have judgment against him; not barely to have his cause tried, but to have a sentence of condemnation passed upon him; some copies read "condemnation", as the Alexandrian copy, and two of Beza's; and that punishment is designed, and even death itself, is manifest from the following words.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

15 About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him.

Ver. 15. To have judgment against him] Damnationem, saith Beza. This was the favour they craved of Festus, Act 25:3. So a writ came down while the Lady Elizabeth was in the tower, subscribed with certain hands of the council for her execution, Stephen Gardiner being the chief engineer; but God prevented them. The Lord Paget in a certain consultation said that King Philip should never have any quiet commonwealth in England unless Lady Elizabeth’s head were stricken from her shoulders. The Spaniards thereto answered, God forbid that their king and master should have such a mind to consent to such a mischief. (Acts and Mon.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

About whom ... - See Act 25:1-5.

To have judgment against him - To have him condemned.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

To wit, judgment of death upon Paul, that he might be sentenced according to the crimes they had laid against him; δικη being put for καταδικη. Neither do they at all mind that St. Paul’s case was not yet heard; they would rather have had him condemned unheard, as they had gotten our Saviour to be condemned, though the judge declared that he found no fault in him, Luk 23:4; which their unjust desire appears by Festus’s answer.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

15. Judgment—(Note Act_25:4.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Asking for sentence for desiring to hare judgment, A.V. and T.R. The chief priests (ver. 2, note). Informed me. (see above, ver. 2, and Act_24:1, note)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Desiring judgment against him - As upon a previous conviction, which they falsely pretended.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

McGarvey & Pendleton's Commentaries

J. W. McGarvey

See notes on verse 14

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

15. οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, the chief priests. See above on Act 25:2, and on ἐμφανίζω also.

καταδίκην, judgment, but always with the sense of adverse judgment. Hence Rev. Ver. ‘sentence.’ The word implies that those who asked thought there could be but one opinion and that a condemnatory sentence might be at once pronounced, even by the newly arrived governor.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Alford’s Greek Testament

Henry Alford

15.] It seems more probable that the unusual word καταδίκη should have been changed to δίκην, especially as κατά precedes, than the converse. Luke never uses δίκη, except as personified, ch. 28:4; and in the only two places besides where it occurs in the N. T. (2Th 1:9; Jud 1:7), it has the sense of condemnation or punishment; and in neither place is there any various reading.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Acts, in the Acts, opens this verse with 18 words (16 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is katadikázō (“to condemn”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word katadikázō carries the sense “to condemn.” How does it shape the verse?
Matthew 12:7 shares the word «to condemn» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“the” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
Reading how Meyer's Critical & Exegetical Commentary and Expositor's Greek Testament read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
“the” occurs 3× in this single verse.
16 distinct Greek lemmas span 18 words in this verse.