Acts 3:18
What does Acts 3:18 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 3:18 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 3:18 means
Despite their ignorance, Peter emphasized that God had sovereignly fulfilled what He had declared through all the Old Testament prophets: that His Christ, the Messiah, must suffer. This demonstrates that Jesus' suffering and death were not random events but part of God's predetermined plan, revealed centuries in advance. This powerful theological affirmation validates Jesus' role as the promised Messiah.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
KJV
King James Version · 1611But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901But the things which God foreshowed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But the things which God had made clear before, by the mouth of all the prophets, that the Christ would have to undergo, he has put into effect in this way.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and God, what things before He had declared through the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ should suffer, He did thus fulfil;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752But those things which God before had shewed by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890butGod has thus fulfilled what he had announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer.
Context
This verse immediately follows Peter's acknowledgement of the people's ignorance, yet it quickly redirects their focus to God's divine plan. By asserting that Jesus' suffering fulfilled prophetic expectations, Peter transforms a perceived tragedy into a divinely orchestrated redemption. This theological framing provides a compelling reason for them to embrace Jesus as the Messiah, setting the stage for the call to repentance based on God's fulfillment of His Word.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 2:23
him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay:
- Acts 26:22
Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come;
- Psalms 69:1
Save me, O God; For the waters are come in unto my soul.
- Psalms 22:1
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou sofar from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?
- Zechariah 12:10
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.
- Luke 24:26
Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?
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