Acts 23:12

And when it was day While Paul was receiving comfort from the Lord, the Jews were plotting to secure his destruction and they let no time be wasted. Their plans are ready by the next day, and as soon as it arrived they set about their execution.

certain of the Jews banded together The best MSS. omit certain of. The addition looks like a marginal comment of some one who felt that the plot would only be contrived by the Sadducees. The men who banded themselves thus together were probably belonging to the Zealots of whose fanaticism Josephus gives several instances.

bound themselves under a curse Lit. placed themselves under an anathema. The noun is used in very solemn language twice over by St Paul (Galatians 1:8-9), "Let him be accursed." It was an invocation of God's vengeance upon themselves, if they failed to do the work which they undertook.

they would neither eat nor drink So that there was no time to be lost; their work must be promptly executed.