Acts 4:19 (DBY)

Passage

But Peter and John answering said to them, If it be righteous before God to listen to you rather than to God, judge ye;

Nearby Context

Acts 4:17 But that it be not further spread among the people, let us threaten them severely no longer to speak to any man in this name.

Acts 4:18 And having called them, they charged [them] not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:19 But Peter and John answering said to them, If it be righteous before God to listen to you rather than to God, judge ye;

Acts 4:20 for as for us *we* cannot refrain from speaking of the things which we have seen and heard.

Acts 4:21 But they, having further threatened them, let them go, finding no way how they might punish them, on account of the people, because all glorified God for what had taken place;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "peter", "john", "answering", "said", "righteous", "before", "listen", and "rather". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "peter" and "john", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "And having called them they charged them..." into verse 20's "for as for us we cannot refrain...", so "peter" and "john" belong inside that flow. In Acts context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "peter" and "john" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.