Bede : And they bound themselves by an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. While the Lord says: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matt. 5), these contrariwise hunger for iniquity, and thirst so greatly for blood that they even renounce food for their body until satisfied by his death. But there is no wisdom nor prudence nor counsel against the Lord. For even though Paul had offered sacrifices above, shaved his head, performed ritual foot washing, made himself a Jew to the Jews, he did not escape the bonds predicted. And here, although they devise plans, bind themselves with vows, set traps, nevertheless the Apostle is preserved, so that he may bear witness to Christ in Rome as it was told him. — Commentary on Acts Bede : And they vowed themselves saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Vowed signifies cursed. Indeed for this word in Greek it is written ἀνεθεμάτισαν: but in the following, where they said: We have vowed with a vow that we will taste nothing, in Greek it is written, ἀναθέματι ἁνεθεματίσαμεν. The severity of this word knows those who are anathematized by the priestly anathema from the society of Christ and the Church. — Retractions on Acts John Chrysostom : "And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy." "They bound themselves under a curse," it says. See how vehement and revengeful they are in their malice! What means, "bound under a curse?" Why then those men are accused forever, seeing they did not kill Paul. And forty together. For such is the nature of that nation: when there needs concerting together for a good object, not even two concur with each other: but when it is for an evil object, the entire people does it. — Homily on Acts 49 John Chrysostom : "We have bound ourselves," they say, "under a curse, that we will not eat nor drink." What is all this zeal? "Bound themselves by a curse:" it was a kind of necessity that those men fastened on themselves by the curse. "That they would neither eat nor drink." Behold fasting the mother of murder! Just as Herod imposed on himself that necessity by his oath, so also do these. For such are the devil's ways: under the pretext forsooth of piety he sets his traps. — Homily on Acts 49 Oecumenius : "bound themselves," that is, they declared themselves outside of faith in God, unless they did the things they boasted of. If then they lied about the promise, as indeed they lied, they are accursed; or if it even happened that they murdered, again as murderers they would have bound themselves, whether God, although the priests pretended otherwise. [AMMONIUS] — Commentary on Acts Oecumenius : The binding is therefore to be understood in a double sense: one, as directed to God alone, in the manner of being unattainable by all or by many; the other, as imposed upon all creation and upon the holy incorporeal powers and alien to God, as assigned to the Devil, because of the alienation of the good in purity; in this way now also they subject themselves to the curse. We therefore think that this is often rightly spoken of as a curse [κατάθεμα]. For in truth such a thing is not appointed to God, but is rather appointed to the Devil, being subjected and condemned together with him. — Commentary on Acts