Acts 3:11

Peter’s Sermon in Solomon’s Portico

11 And [while] he was holding fast to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's, utterly astonished.

Acts 3:11 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 3:11

And as the lame man which was healed
This is left out in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, and in the Alexandrian copy, which only read, and as he

held Peter and John;
by their clothes or arms, either through fear, lest his lameness should return on their leaving him; or rather out of affection to them for the favour he had received, and therefore hung about them, and was loath to part with them; unless it was to make them known, and point them out as the authors of his cure, that they might be taken notice of by others, and the miracle be ascribed unto them:

all the people ran together unto them;
to the man that was healed, and to Peter and John, when they saw him standing, walking, and leaping, and clinging about the apostles; who were

in the porch that is called Solomon's; (See Gill on John 10:23)

greatly wondering;
at the man that was cured; at the cure that was wrought upon him; and still more at the persons who did it, and the manner in which it was done.

Acts 3:11 In-Context

9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God,

10 And they recognized him, that this one was the one who used to sit [asking] for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with awe and astonishment at what had happened to him.

11 And [while] he was holding fast to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's, utterly astonished.

12 And [when he] saw [it], Peter replied to the people, "Men [and] Israelites, why are you astonished at this? Or why are you staring at us, as [if] by our own power or godliness we have made him walk?

13 The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, [after] he had decided to release [him].

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[while]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("was holding fast to")