Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 23:14

"And they came to the chief priests and the elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, to taste nothing until we have killed Paul." — Acts 23:14 (ASV)

They came to the chief priests and elders.—It will be remembered that the high priest Ananias had already shown the rough brutality of his nature in his treatment of St. Paul, and was now, we can scarcely doubt, impelled by the spirit of revenge. It is evident that those to whom the conspirators went were the Sadducean party in the Council, not the more moderate and cautious Pharisees.

We have bound ourselves under a great curse.—The Greek follows the Hebrew idiom in expressing intensity by the reduplication of the leading word. Literally, We have anathematised ourselves with an anathema.