VERSE STUDY • KJV

Acts 11:1-10

¹ And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ² And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, ³ Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. ⁴ But Peter rehearsed [the matter] from the beginning, and expounded [it] by order unto them, saying, ⁵ I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: ⁶ Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. ⁷ And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. ⁸ But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. ⁹ But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common. ¹⁰ And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.

Read it in 5 translations

KJV King James Version

¹ And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ² And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, ³ Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. ⁴ But Peter rehearsed [the matter] from the beginning, and expounded [it] by order unto them, saying, ⁵ I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: ⁶ Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. ⁷ And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. ⁸ But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. ⁹ But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common. ¹⁰ And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.

BSB Berean Standard Bible

¹ The apostles and brothers throughout Judea soon heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers took issue with him ³ and said, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ But Peter began and explained to them the whole sequence of events: ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision of something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came right down to me. ⁶ I looked at it closely and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷ Then I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’ ⁸ ‘No, Lord,’ I said, ‘for nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹ But the voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.

WEB World English Bible

¹ Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. ² When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, those who were of the circumcision contended with him, ³ saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men, and ate with them!” ⁴ But Peter began, and explained to them in order, saying, ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: a certain container descending, like it was a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners. It came as far as me. ⁶ When I had looked intently at it, I considered, and saw the four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky. ⁷ I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter, kill and eat!’ ⁸ But I said, ‘Not so, Lord, for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.’ ⁹ But a voice answered me the second time out of heaven, ‘What God has cleansed, don’t you call unclean.’ ¹⁰ This was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.

ASV American Standard Version

¹ Now the apostles and the brethren that were in Judæa heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, ³ saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. ⁴ But Peter began, and expounded the matter unto them in order, saying, ⁵ I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even unto me: ⁶ upon which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw the fourfooted beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and birds of the heaven. ⁷ And I heard also a voice saying unto me, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. ⁸ But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath ever entered into my mouth. ⁹ But a voice answered the second time out of heaven, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. ¹⁰ And this was done thrice: and all were drawn up again into heaven.

YLT Young’s Literal Translation

¹ And the apostles and the brethren who are in Judea heard that also the nations did receive the word of God, ² and when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision were contending with him, ³ saying—‘Unto men uncircumcised thou didst go in, and didst eat with them!’ ⁴ And Peter having begun, did expound to them in order saying, ⁵ ‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and I saw in a trance a vision, a certain vessel coming down, as a great sheet by four corners being let down out of the heaven, and it came unto me; ⁶ at which having looked stedfastly, I was considering, and I saw the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping things, and the fowls of heaven; ⁷ and I heard a voice saying to me, Having risen, Peter, slay and eat; ⁸ and I said, Not so, Lord; because anything common or unclean hath at no time entered into my mouth; ⁹ and a voice did answer me a second time out of the heaven, What God did cleanse, thou—declare not thou common. ¹⁰ ‘And this happened thrice, and again was all drawn up to the heaven,

Surrounding context — Acts 11

1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.

2 And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him,

3 Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them.

4 But Peter rehearsed [the matter] from the beginning, and expounded [it] by order unto them, saying,

5 I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me:

6 Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

7 And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat.

8 But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth.

9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common.

10 And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven.

11 And, behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me.

12 And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house:

13 And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;

Read the whole chapter → · About Acts →

Topics connected to this verse

HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION

Compare classic commentaries on Acts 11:1-10

Put Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, Calvin, Wesley, Barnes, Jamieson–Fausset–Brown, Aquinas’ Catena and other public-domain sources beside the passage.

Compare commentaries →