Acts 5:7

Act_5:7-10

It was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

Plain language

I think that one of the master incantations, one of the most signal deceits, which we practise upon ourselves, comes from the use of language. There are words that we learn in childhood which we abandon when we come to manhood. Generally speaking, our fireside words are old Saxon words--short, knotty, tough, and imbued with moral and affectional meanings; but as we grow older these words are too rude and plain for our use, and so we get Latin terms and periphrases by which to express many of our thoughts. When we talk about ourselves we almost invariably use Latin words, and when we talk about our neighbours we use Saxon words. And one of the best things a man can do, I think, is to examine himself in the Saxon tongue. If a man tells that which is contrary to the truth let him not say, I equivocate; let him say, I lie. Lie! why, it brings the judgment day right home to a mans thought. Men do not like it, but it is exactly the thing that will most effectually touch the moral sense; and the more the moral sense is touched the better. If a man has departed from rectitude in his dealings with another, let him not say, I took advantage, which is a roundabout long sentence: let him say, I cheated. That is a very direct word. It springs straight to the conscience, as the arrow flies whizzing from the bow to the centre of the mark. Does it grate harshly on your ear? Nevertheless, it is better that you should employ it; and you should come to this determination: I will call things that I detect in my conduct by those clear-faced, rough-tongued words that my enemies would use if they wanted to sting me to the quick. (H. W. Beecher.)

The sin in the purpose more than in the act

It is said by sceptics that St. Peters question to Sapphira, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? was a temptation to the sin of falsehood; but it is plain, from the story in the fifth chapter of the Acts, that Sapphira had committed herself to a fraudulent undertaking. The sin had been already committed when she adopted her sinful purpose. Peters question was only to make the secret purpose known. It is an abuse of language to speak of tempting one to do what he has committed himself to do, We do not tempt a shopkeeper when we propose to buy what he wishes to sell. No more did Peter tempt Sapphira to become a liar. She was a liar before his question, quite as much as after her answer. The ethical principle is that it is the purpose, not the act, which constitutes the essential sin.

The sin of Sapphira greater than that of Ananias

1. She had longer time for consideration.

2. Peter, by a yet more pointed question, gave her a much better opportunity for reflection, and for giving glory to God.

3. She answered still more shamelessly.

4. And is, therefore, obliged to listen more fully to her sentence, and to hear what has happened to her husband. (Rieger.)

The perversion of the marriage bond

In families where marriage is nothing more than--

1. A fellowship of goods and a business transaction to become rich instead of a union of hearts in the Lord; or,

2. A union to the service of the world, the flesh, and the devil, instead of a pious resolution. I and my house will serve the Lord. And,

3. A walking together to hell, it may be to a hell on earth, or to eternal perdition, instead of the married pair being helpers of one anothers joys and blessedness, and striving how the one might bring the other to heaven. How is it that ye have agreed together?--a serious question to every married pair. (K. Gerok.)

Then she fell down straightway at his feet and gave up the ghost.--

Death by the visitation of God

It would not be difficult to find some instances of direct and swift punishment even in modern times. In the old town of Devizes the tourist is led up to see an interesting inscription in the public market-place. It reads thus: The mayor and corporation of Devizes avail themselves of the stability of this building to transmit to future times the record of an awful event which occurred in this market-place in the year 1753; hoping that such a record may serve as a salutary warning against the danger of impiously invoking the Divine vengeance, or of calling on the holy name of God to conceal the devices of falsehood and fraud. On Thursday, the 25th of January, 1753, Ruth Pierce, of Pottera, in this county, agreed with three other women to buy a sack of wheat in the market, each paying her due proportion towards the same. One of these women, in collecting the several quotas of money, discovered a deficiency, and demanded of Ruth Pierce the sum which was wanting to make good the amount. Ruth Pierce protested that she had paid her share, and said she wished she might drop down dead if she had not. She rashly repeated this awful wish, when, to the consternation of the surrounding multitude, she instantly fell down and expired, having the money concealed in her hand. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 5:7-10. About the space of three hours after — How precious a space! his wife — Who was absent when this happened; not knowing what was done, came in — Into the place where the apostles were, expecting, doubtless, to share in the thanks of all present, for consenting to the sale of the land, and becoming, with her husband, so great a benefactor to the fund; Peter said to her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much — Naming the sum. And she said, Yea, for so much — Ananias and his wife had agreed to tell the same story; and the bargain being private, and, by consent, kept to themselves, so that nobody could disprove their assertion, they thought they might safely affirm what they did, and should gain credit to it. It is lamentable to see those relations, who should quicken one another to that which is good, hardening one another in that which is evil! Peter said — By an immediate impulse of the same Spirit, which had before so awfully interposed; How is it that you have agreed — Have acted as if you had agreed together; to tempt the Spirit of the Lord — To try whether he be capable of searching the heart, and of knowing what is done in secret? Before Peter passes sentence, he sets before her the greatness of the crime. Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband — Whom divine vengeance has already struck dead on this occasion; are at the door — Upon their return; and shall carry thee out — A breathless corpse. She had not heard till now that her husband was dead, the notice of which, with the discovery of her sin, and the sentence of death passed upon her, struck her as a thunderbolt, so that she expired in a moment. And the young men came in — And, to their utter astonishment, doubtless, found her also dead, and carrying her forth immediately, buried her by her husband! — Observe, reader, there are many instances of sudden death, which are not to be looked upon as the punishment of gross sin, like these here recorded: we must not think that all who die suddenly were sinners above others. It may be intended as a favour to some, that a quick passage is granted them. Such instances, however, are intended to be a warning to others to be always ready: but the deaths here mentioned were, doubtless, in judgment. Some inquire concerning the eternal state of Ananias and Sapphira, and incline to think, that the destruction of the flesh was effected, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. And had there been any space granted them for repentance, as there was to the incestuous Corinthian, there might have been reason for indulging a hope of this kind. But, as the case was, the ground for hope concerning them seems small, according to the Scriptures. Secret things, however, belong not to us, and we know the Judge of all the earth will do only what is perfectly just and holy.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 5:7. Διάστημα, the space) The woman, being the weaker vessel, had a longer space for repentance. A precious interval of three hours!—μὴ εἰδυῖα, not knowing) For if she had known, her confession would have been nothing great. Nor was she worthy to know, since she had tempted the Spirit of the Lord.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_5:7. But it came to passabout an interval of three hoursand his wife came in. The husband had remained away too long for her. A period of three hours might easily elapse with the business of the burial, especially if the place of sepulture was distant from the city (see Lightfoot). After ἐγένετο δέ a comma is to be put, and ὡς ὡρ. τρ. διάστ. is a statement of time inserted independently of the construction of the sentence. See on Mat_15:32; Luk_9:28; Schaefer, ad Dem. V. p. 368. The common view: but there was an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, is at variance with the use, especially frequent in Luke, of the absolute ἐγένετο (Gersdorf, Beitr. p. 235; Bornemann, Schol. p. 2 f.). As to the καί after ἐγένετο, see on Luk_5:12. On διάστημα used of time, comp. Polyb. ix. 1. 1.

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.

Act 5:7 . ἐγένετο δὲ … καὶ , cf. for construction Luk 5:1 ; Luk 5:17 ; Luk 8:1 ; Luk 8:22 ; Luk 9:51 ; Luk 14:1 , etc. Hebraistic, if not strictly a Hebraism; on καί thus uniting two co-ordinate statements with ἐγένετο see Plummer’s valuable note, p. 45; St. Luke , first edition; and on the use of καί see Simcox, Language of the N. T. , pp. 161, 162; Blass, Grammatik des N. G. , pp. 256, 257. διάστημα : as if a nominative absolute, here parenthetical from ὡς , cf. Luk 9:28 . Cf. Viteau, Le Grec du N. T. , p. 83 (1896). St. Luke alone uses διάστημα (only here in N.T.), cf. Polyb., ix., 1, 1; διάστημα τετραετές , and the verb διίστημι , cf. Luk 22:59 ; Luk 24:51 , Act 27:28 . In Apocryph. Act. Andrea , 14, we have ἡμιωρίου διάδτημα (Lumby), and in LXX, cf. Ecclesiast., prol. , 24, 3Ma 4:17 . ὡς = ὡσεί , fere, cf. Act 1:15 , Act 2:4 , etc. ὡρῶν τριῶν : Nösgen supposes the approach of the next hour of prayer in this mention of the time, μὴ pro οὐ (Blass), see also Lumby’s note.

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

Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much--naming the sum.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7. That punishment wherewith the Lord punished Sapphira containeth no new thing, save only that the example was the more confirmed thereby. And it came to pass by the certain providence of God, that the Church should see apart the obstinate wickedness and treacherous mind of them both. Seeing their faults were alike, they might have been known together; but this was more fit and profitable for the Church, that they might severally bewray their own wickedness. Neither was Sapphira provoked by the sight of her husband to dissemble, (as it falleth out oftentimes,) that the fault could be ascribed to shamefacedness, but of her own accord, and being pricked forward by no other means, she seemeth to be no better than her husband. Moreover, their wickedness in lying was like, forasmuch as she may see by Peter’s interrogation that their guile was found out.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) And it was about the space of three hours after.—Literally, And there was an interval of about three hours.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. the space of three hours after] Time enough for the bestowal of the dead body, but yet so short that the news of what had befallen her husband had not reached Sapphira. It may have been that their home was in the country at a distance from Jerusalem, and that the husband alone came in to offer the money by reason of the distance.

came in] i.e. to the room where Peter and the rest of the congregation were assembled.

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.

And it was about the space of three hours after,.... The death of Ananias. So much time was taken up in burying of him; and in less time it could not well be, since the burying places of the Jews were without the city, as before observed: and if they were as distant from other cities, as they were from the cities of the Levites, they were, as Dr. Lightfoot shows from Maimonides (g), above a mile and half off: though there is a Jewish canon which runs thus (h);

"they put carcasses, graves, and tanners, fifty cubits from a city.''

So that to go thither, open the grave, inter the dead, and return, must take up so much time; and so much time his wife had to reflect upon what she and her husband had done, but seems not to have had any thought about it, at least not any remorse of conscience for it:

when his wife, not knowing what was done; she knew that her husband kept back part of the price of the land, and how much it was, and what he brought to the apostles; but she did not know that the fraud was detected, nor what followed; as that her husband was immediately struck dead, and was carried out and buried; which it is pretty much she should not in this time, when the thing was awful and shocking, the news of which must fly apace all over the city: but it looks as if the company of the saints was not broke up all this while, and that no one went out to carry it abroad, but the young men that went to bury him. Sapphira therefore, being ignorant of the whole affair,

came in; to the temple or house where the apostles were, expecting to see her husband among the apostles, and chief men, in great honour and esteem for what he had done; and that he would be on equal foot with Barnabas and others, who had sold all they had, and brought the whole price of their possessions into the common stock.

(g) Shemitta Veyobel, c. 13. sect. 2. (h) Misn. Bava Bathra, c. 2. sect. 9.

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

7 And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

Ver. 7. Not knowing what was done] And thinking to find her husband in highest honour among the apostles. "But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost," Job 11:20.

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.

And it was about the space ... - As Sapphira had been no less guilty than her husband, so it was ordered in the providence of God that the same judgment should tome upon both.

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

Not knowing. Because no one durst tell her; so much did they honour, fear, and obey St. Peter. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. xii.) --- She came in; Peter did not call her, but waited, to afford her an opportunity of repenting. (Œcumenius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

About the space of three hours after; in his circumstance is expressed to confirm the truth of this history.

Not knowing what was done; not suspecting any such thing, she was the less inquisitive; and such a consternation and dread was upon all that were there, that they durst not tell her, lest they should offend Peter; also, probably, lest they should with so sudden and sad news grieve her.

Came in; into the church, or place, where they were met together.

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

7. Three hours—During which they carried the corpse to the burial-place, usually without the city, prepared the grave, performed the burial, and returned to the assembly room. Sapphira may be supposed to be remaining at her perhaps distant home.

His wife… came in—Hapless woman! Little knows she that she has been three hours a widow; that her husband lies a dishonoured corpse in a shameful grave. Still less does she dream how brief her widowhood will be. Her heart is full and eager with the deadly sin.

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

And it was about, etc.; better rendered, with Meyer, and it cams to pass, after an interval of three hours, that his wife, etc. It is a Hebrew idiom. (scrap Luk_5:12)

Vers. 7-11 (or ver. 11). Conspiracy against God.

While much in the previous paragraph repeated here, a new phase of sin presented. It was distinctly on the ground of deliberate agreement to tempt the Spirit of the Lord that Sapphira"s death was added to that of her husband.

I The intimate connection of the proclamation of gospel truth and mercy with THE RENOVATION OF HUMAN SOCIETY.

1. Family life, domestic intimacy, the root of public life. We must choose all our relations with the light of God in Christ.

2. The conspiracy of Ananias and Sapphira was a blow at the work of the Spirit in raising up a new spiritual life on the basis of self-sacrifice and absolute truthfulness.

3. The awful judgment was a proclamation of mercy Come and hide under this Divine power and be safe.

II A marvelous display of THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY poured out on the apostles. The words of Peter an example:

1. Of the Spirit of truth and grace in him; he proceeded with the utmost care, publicity, tenderness, pity. The wife had the opportunity of repentance, while the appeal was made, not on the ground of terror, for she knew nothing, but on the ground of simple truth Tell me the truth.

2. Of the spirit of discernment and, in the Name of the Lord, of prediction. Had not Peter under supernatural impulse foreseen the death of the woman, he would not have dared to utter such words. As it was, it was a responsibility which none but an inspired man would have assumed. Such a fact speaks volumes on the supernatural state of the Church at that time.

III A GRACIOUS APPLICATION of extraordinary facts.

1. To the Church itself. The solemnization of fellowship. God thus said," Take heed how you join my people." The ethical set in the light of the spiritual. "Be ye holy." The sins of falsehood, presumption, avarice, self-confidence, set forth. The Divine kingdom clearly revealed. If God is so near, and yet to all who trust in Christ near to bless, how glorious this time! What is he not doing? and how little need we fear the world"s opposition when he can strike dead our enemies? "Stand still and see the salvation." Compare the Israelites looking back on Pharaoh"s host and forward to the promised land.

2. To the world. "All that heard these things." Such facts preached, loudly and widely, where the preacher"s voice did not reach. We must remember that grace and providence go hand-in-hand. Fallow ground broken up by the ploughshare of terrible events and warning dispensations. "Judgment begins at the house of God; what shall the end be," etc.? Yet the "fear was a fear mingled with the light of hope;" for these deaths pointed to the way of life. The Church was the more conspicuously revealed as a refuge opened by God for all. So in the terrible times of human history religion has gone forth with special power. What message has philosophy at such times? Where are the rationalists and the doubters in the great crises of the world? Press home the facts upon those who tempt the Spirit of the Lord by untruthfulness, rebellion, indifference, worldliness. R.

Vers. 7-10. Helpers in sin must be sharers in judgment.

The share taken by Sapphira was manifestly a prominent and an active one. She and her husband were at full accord in the matter; and her sin is the more aggravated as she had a longer time to think it over, and had evidently planned what she would say and do if any remarks were made by the apostles or the brethren as to the gift of the land. "The question asked by St. Peter gave her an opening for repentance. It had been in her power to save her husband by a word of warning protest. It was now in her power to clear her own conscience by confession. She misses the one opportunity as she had misused the other. The lie which they had agreed upon comes glibly from her lips, and the irrevocable word is spoken.

I THE COMMON JUDGMENT. The same fate overtook both, as they had joined together in the sin. Compare the cases of Dathan and Abiram. There was union:

1. In the slow judgment of the deteriorated and debased soul. And this is ever the first form of the Divine judgment on the sinner. Hardening of heart, deadening of conscience, cherishing of blinding and fatal delusions, are as truly direct judgments of God, ever working, as sudden death. This truth needs to be seen more clearly and impressed more constantly.

2. In the swift and immediate judgment of the sudden death, which, in the second case, was prophetically declared to be God"s witness to the exceeding heinousness of their sin. The life of all men is in God"s hands, and we may well "fear him who can cast body and soul into hell." "The lives of all men are in his hand. Daily he is cutting them off in a moment even hot with lust or red-handed from crime. His doom now and then antedates the slower processes of human law. The time and fashion of all our deaths are with him. If one day his mercy turned to judgment, and he took from the earth two forfeited lives for, the warning and the bettering of many, who shall say either that the lesson was dearly bought or that the penalty was undeserved? It is well that men should be taught once for all, by sudden death treading swiftly on the heels of detected sin, that the gospel, which discovers God"s boundless mercy, has not wiped out the sterner attributes of the judge" (Dr. Dykes).

II THE MORAL MISSION OF DIVINE JUDGMENT. A solemn awe fell on the minds of all present. Illustrate by impressions now made by a case of sudden death in a congregation, or by such a case as that of Alexis, smitten by lightning at Luther"s side. It is said that "great fear came upon all the Church." The Scripture meanings of the word "fear" may be given and illustrated. Here it is a solemn sense of the severity and power of God, and of the strictness of his demands. The members now felt, as they had never done before, what a serious thing it was to make a Christian profession. Dwell on two things.

1. Fear as solemnizing other professors, filling them with new thoughts about insincerity, hypocrisy, and covetousness. Reminding them that no man should enter Christ"s kingdom without first "sitting down and counting the cost." "The true ecclesia must be free from such hypocritical professors, or its work could not advance." "God fills our hearts with the spirit of reverence, truthfulness, and godly fear, lest another spirit fills us with lies, with greed, with vainglory, and with presumptuous impiety.

2. Fear as deterring would-be professors. Persons in all ages are too ready to take up the mere profession of Christ"s Name, and such need to be shown that such profession involves responsibilities as well as privileges. There is grave danger of our estimating our responsibilities too lightly. The vows of Christ ought ever to be a solemn and a holy burden. "What manner of persons ought we to be?" God is "known by the judgments that he executeth." We still need to recognize his hand, and we must be careful not to lose the impression of his personality in the modern sentiment about law. R.T.

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

About the space of three hours - How precious a space! The woman had a longer time for repentance.

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

The death of Sapphira:

v. 7. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.

v. 8. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much. And she said, Yea, for so much.

v. 9. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

v. 10. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost. And the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.

v. 11. And great fear came upon all the Church, and upon as many as heard these things.

Whether the information concerning the death of her husband had been withheld from Sapphira by the command of Peter, or whether the awe of the incident they had witnessed kept the members from spreading the story, is immaterial. After an interval of about three hours, Sapphira, who may have become concerned over the long absence of Ananias, came to the meeting-place of the congregation. She was fully prepared to keep her agreement with her husband relative to the money, not knowing that his fate had been sealed hours before. When Peter, therefore, put the question to her whether for just that sum which was still lying there they had sold their property, she unhesitatingly replied: Yes, for just so much. Peter’s question had been a last appeal to her conscience, a last admonition to tell the truth and give all glory to God. But she disregarded the admonition, persevered in her sin, and seconded the base lie of her husband. It was a willful persistence in sin, in hypocrisy. Note the dramatic intensity of the narrative. Peter now, in the name of God, as a prophet of the Lord, pronounced the judgment upon her. For what reason, to what end, did you agree to tempt the Spirit of God, to see whether it would be possible to deceive Him as well as His Church? The feet of those that carried out thy husband are at the door, and will carry thee out. And no sooner had Peter uttered the Lord’s judgment than Sapphira fell down, just as her husband had before her, and also breathed her last. And the young men coming in, found her dead, and buried her beside her husband, to be joined with him in death as she had been in life. That was a terrible, but just judgment which the Lord here executed in the midst of the first congregation. By this act God declared to the Church of all times that the hypocrites are an abomination in His sight. It is but seldom in our days that the Lord makes known His avenging power in the same manner as here, but His hand is not shortened even today when His honor is at stake. Note: There is a repetition of the sin of Ananias and Sapphira in modern church-life, also in connection with the Lord’s treasury, namely, when members of congregations make exaggerated statements of the amounts they are giving or understate their income, in order to make their contribution for the Kingdom stand out above that of others. The result of this story should rather be, as it was in those days, that a great fear comes upon the people, both upon those that are members of the Church and those that are still outside, but hear of this manifestation of God’s power. The same God that sat in judgment upon Ananias and Sapphira will, in His own way and at the time appointed by Him, not fail to visit the sins upon those that follow the example of these two hypocrites.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Sapphira was not present. (7) " And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. " How she remained so long ignorant of the fate of her husband, we are not informed, though it is a most extraordinary circumstance. He had died suddenly, in a manner which had excited everybody; had been buried; and three hours had passed; yet his wife, who must have been in the vicinity, has no intimation of it, but comes into the very assembly where it had occurred, without a word reaching her ear upon the subject. There is no way to account for this, but by the supposition that there was a concerted determination on the part of the whole multitude to conceal the facts from her. This was a most unnatural determination, and one difficult of execution, except on the further supposition that Peter commanded the multitude to restrain their natural impulses, and let her know nothing until he himself was ready to reveal it to her. This course was necessary in order to effectually expose her.

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.

7. His wife … came in. To the place of assembly, not having heard of her husband's fate, but full of his spirit.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

his wife came in

"Ananias' wife came in" or "Sapphira came in"

what had happened

"that her husband had died"

for so much

"for this much money." This refers to the amount of money that Ananias had given to the apostles.

translationWords

Peter

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

7. ὡρῶν τριῶν διάστημα, the space of three hours. This was time enough for the bestowal of the dead body, but yet so short that news of the death of her husband had not reached Sapphira. It may have been that their home was in the country at a distance from Jerusalem, and that the husband alone came in to offer the money by reason of the distance.

διάστημα is found of a distance in space in LXX. of Gen 32:16; Eze 41:8; Eze 45:2; 2Ma 14:44, but not of an interval of time. διάστημα τετραετές occurs Polyb. IX. 1. 1; and ἡμιωρίου διάστημα, the space of half an hour, Apocryph. Act. Andreæ 14.

καὶ ἡ γυνή. The construction is broken here. We should have expected an accusative and infinitive in dependence on ἐγένετο. But such interruptions are not uncommon after a clause beginning with ἐγένετο. Cf. Luk 8:1; Luk 8:22; Luk 9:28, &c. The construction is due to the Hebrew form ויהי followed by ו.

μὴ εἰδυῖα. μὴ here cannot be held to differ from οὐ. There is a direct statement of a fact, present, and nothing which can convert the words in any sense into a mere thought or conception.

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.

7.] The construction is, ἐγένετο δέ‚ … καί, It happened, that: and ὡς ὡ. τ. διάστ. is parenthetical, not the nom. to ἑγένετο. See a precisely similar construction, Luk 9:28: and Winer, edn. 6, § 62. 2.

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