Acts 23:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you,[a] you whitewashed wall. Do you indeed sit in judgment upon me according to the law and yet in violation of the law order me to be struck?”(A) 4 The attendants said, “Would you revile God’s high priest?” 5 Paul answered, “Brothers, I did not realize he was the high priest. For it is written,(B) ‘You shall not curse a ruler of your people.’”[b]
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- 23:3 God will strike you: Josephus reports that Ananias was later assassinated in A.D. 66 at the beginning of the First Revolt.
- 23:5 Luke portrays Paul as a model of one who is obedient to the Mosaic law. Paul, because of his reverence for the law (Ex 22:27), withdraws his accusation of hypocrisy, “whitewashed wall” (cf. Mt 23:27), when he is told Ananias is the high priest.
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