Acts 5:3
What does Acts 5:3 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 5:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 5:3 means
Peter, by the Spirit’s discernment, unmasks the real offense: Satan has filled Ananias’s heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. The deception is spiritual in origin and gravity. The language recalls earlier fillings by the Spirit for good; here, the heart is filled for evil. Peter does not focus on the money but on the falsehood toward God, who indwells and leads the church. The verse teaches that the Spirit is personal and holy, and that to deceive Christ’s church is to attempt to deceive God himself. Peter’s question probes the conscience: why yield to the tempter’s plan to marry piety’s appearance with a heart of deceit?
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
KJV
King James Version · 1611But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But Peter said, Ananias, why has the Evil One put it into your heart to be false to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And Peter said, `Ananias, wherefore did the Adversary fill thy heart, for thee to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back of the price of the place?
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752But Peter said: Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thy heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost and by fraud keep part of the price of the land?
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lie to the Holy Spirit, and put aside for thyself a part of the price of the estate?
Context
Having revealed the couple’s scheme, Luke records Peter’s Spirit-given insight and direct confrontation. This verse begins a series of searching questions that expose the nature of the sin and its spiritual source. It connects the event to the larger battle between God’s work and Satan’s opposition, a theme already present in Acts. The next verse will clarify that Ananias’s property was his to manage, sharpening that the sin lies not in withholding but in lying to God. The narrative is moving from human action to divine evaluation, preparing for the sobering judgment that follows immediately upon Peter’s words.
v.2and kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
v.3This passage
v.4While it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- James 4:7
Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
- Genesis 3:13
And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
- John 13:27
And after the sop, then entered Satan into him. Jesus therefore saith unto him, What thou doest, do quickly.
- Acts 5:4
While it remained, did it not remain thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thy power? How is it that thou hast conceived this thing in thy heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
- Ecclesiastes 5:4
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou vowest.
- 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
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