Acts 3:5

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

He listened to them, expecting to receive something from them.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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ἐπεῖχεν

epéchō

G1907

“to hold upon”

Verb, Imperfect, Active, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular

Appears 5× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Luke 14:7

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: from G1909 and G2192

TDNT: None

1. to have or hold upon, apply, to observe, attend to a. to give attention to 2. to hold towards, hold forth, present 3. to check a. delay, stop, stay

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 →

9: words
8: distinct lemmas
Acts: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is ἐπεῖχεν to hold upon G1907 — appearing just 5 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

ἐπεῖχεν to hold upon G1907 occurs in 5 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse:

αὐτοῖς he G846 ×2

Commentary

Notes on Acts 3:5 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 →

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Act 3:5 . ὁ δὲ ἐπεῖχεν , sc. , νοῦν (not τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς ); cf. Luk 14:7 , 1Ti 4:16 , Sirach 31 (34):2, 2Ma 9:25 (Job 30:26 , A.S. 2 al .) with dative rei ; so in Polybius.

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Both with heart and eyes.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 5. Expecting to receive something of them.] Because it was a constant custom for all who entered the temple to carry money with them to give to the treasury, or to the poor, or to both. It was on this ground that the friends of the lame man laid him at the gate of the temple, as this was the most likely place to receive alms.

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

John Gill's Exposition

And he gave heed unto them,.... Or "he looked at them", as the Syriac version renders it, as they bid him: he was not only attentive to them in his mind, but he directed his eyes towards them, and looked wistly at them. This clause is left out in the Ethiopic version.

Expecting to receive something of them; not a cure for his lameness, which he little thought of, but some money, as an alms.

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

5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

Ver. 5. Expecting] God was better to him than his expectation. God presseth kindness upon his suitors, and heapeth it upon them, as Naaman upon Gehazi, 2Ki 5:22-23.

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Gave heed, with his eyes and mind too, being intent upon the apostles; this he was commanded to do, and it succeeds beyond all hopes. Thus we receive of God daily more than we can ask or think.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

From for of, A.V.

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

McGarvey & Pendleton's Commentaries

J. W. McGarvey

See notes on verse 1

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

5. ἐπεῖχεν, gave heed. The verb requires τὸν νοῦν, or something similar, to be supplied with it. The sense is ‘turned (his attention).’ Cf. Sir 34:2, ὁ ἐπέχων ἐνυπνίοις, ‘he that pays attention to dreams’; and Act 3:18 of the same chapter, τίνι ἐπέχει; ‘To what does he pay attention?’

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

5. ἐπεῖχεν] not τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς (as Bos and Kuinoel), which is implied:—but (see reff.) τὸν νοῦν, fixed his attention on them.

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 9 words (8 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is epéchō (“to hold upon”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word epéchō carries the sense “to hold upon.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Luke 14:7, which shares the word «to hold upon», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “he” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
Compare how Expositor's Greek Testament and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 5 words in this verse.
“he” occurs 2× in this single verse.
8 distinct Greek lemmas span 9 words in this verse.