Acts 5:18 - Exposition

Laid hands (as Acts 4:3 , A.V. and R.V.) for laid their hands, A.V. and T.R.; in public ward for in the common prison, A.V. Laid hands , etc. Laid their hands is equally right, even when αὑτῶν is omitted, as the translation of τὰς χεῖρας . There is no difference in the sense in the two renderings, or in the two passages, though in Acts 4:3 the phrase is ἐπέβαλον αὐτοῖς τὰς χεῖρας , and here ἐπέβαλον τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀποστόλους . In public ward . The A.V. is more idiomatic and expresses exactly what is meant by the phrase τηρήσει δημοσίᾳ . Meyer quotes the phrases τὸ δημόσιον in Thucydides, and οἰκία δημόσια in Xenophon for the common piton (see Acts 4:3 ).