Acts 4:31 (DBY)

Passage

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Nearby Context

Acts 4:29 And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and give to thy bondmen with all boldness to speak thy word,

Acts 4:30 in that thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and that signs and wonders take place through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.

Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were assembled shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:32 And the heart and soul of the multitude of those that had believed were one, and not one said that anything of what he possessed was his own, but all things were common to them;

Acts 4:33 and with great power did the apostles give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "Spirit", "prayed", "place", "assembled", "shook", "filled", "holy", and "spoke". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "Spirit" and "prayed", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "in that thou stretchest out thy hand..." into verse 32's "And the heart and soul of the...", so "Spirit" and "prayed" 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 "Spirit" and "prayed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.