Acts10:11
Next VerseTranslation
and he beholds heaven
Go to footnote numberopening and a certain container
Go to footnote numberdescending like a great sheet
Go to footnote numberbeing lowered upon the earth by four corners.
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
and he, Peter, saw the abode of God opening up to send something special to earth; it was a container which looked like a large sheet used for various purposes that was connected to all the people groups of the world, and it was coming from God to mankind.
Footnotes
1
This word, usually rendered “heaven”, also means “sky and air”. However, the figurative meaning of this word indicates that if something is coming down from heaven, it is coming down from God himself.
2
This words means “a container, a vessel, instrument, equipment.” It was a means used to carry things. In this case it had to “hold” lots animals, both large and small.
3
This large piece of cloth was often made of linen, which was known for purity. It was used for a number of things such as bedcovers, sails, awnings, food-preparation surfaces, and even burial wrappings (per Biblehub.com Topical Lexicon). In this passage it is not important what it looked like or what its equivalent was usually used for, the important thing was that it was able to contain many animals.
I have changed my assumptions about the size of this sheet. I used to picture it as a sheet that was about the size of the roof of the house where Peter was praying. But now I think it is probably wiser to picture it as a sheet the size of a pasture – a white pasture rather than a green pasture. We know the animals were alive because God told Peter to rise, kill and eat. So I now picture hundreds or thousands of animals milling about on a large white pasture that was lowered of lifted by its four corners.
4
“four corners” the corresponding Hebrew phrase meant the four corners of the world and the four winds. This effectively indicated every place and everything within the scope of every place.