And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, {c} What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are {d} come up for {e} a memorial before God.

(c) What do you want with me Lord? For he prepares himself to hear.

(d) This is a borrowed kind of speech which the Hebrews used very much, taken from sacrifices and applied to prayers: for it is said of whole burnt sacrifices that the smoke and smell of them goes up into God's nostrils, and so do our prayers, as a sweet smelling sacrifice which the Lord takes great pleasure in.

(e) That is, in as much that they will not allow God as it were to forget you: for so the Scripture often talks childish with us as nurses do with little children, when they prepare their tongues to speak.

People's New Testament

10:4 What is it, Lord? Filled with awe, he inquired the meaning of the appearance.

Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. He was heard because he was yearning for light and using all the light he had.

Wesley's Notes

10:4 Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God - Dare any man say, These were only splendid sins? Or that they were an abomination before God? And yet it is certain, in the Christian sense Cornelius was then an unbeliever. He had not then faith in Christ. So certain it is, that every one who seeks faith in Christ, should seek it in prayer, and doing good to all men: though in strictness what is not exactly according to the Divine rule must stand in need of Divine favour and indulgence.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. What is it, Lord?-language which, tremulously though it was uttered, betokened childlike reverence and humility.

Thy prayers and thine alms-The way in which both are specified is emphatic. The one denotes the spiritual outgoing of his soul to God, the other its practical outgoing to men.

are come up for a memorial before God-that is, as a sacrifice well-pleasing unto God, as an odor of a sweet smell (Re 8:4).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-8 Hitherto none had been baptized into the Christian church but Jews, Samaritans, and those converts who had been circumcised and observed the ceremonial law; but now the Gentiles were to be called to partake all the privileges of God's people, without first becoming Jews. Pure and undefiled religion is sometimes found where we least expect it. Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and of piety, neither will excuse from the other. Doubtless Cornelius had true faith in God's word, as far as he understood it, though not as yet clear faith in Christ. This was the work of the Spirit of God, through the mediation of Jesus, even before Cornelius knew him, as is the case with us all when we, who before were dead in sin, are made alive. Through Christ also his prayers and alms were accepted, which otherwise would have been rejected. Without dispute or delay Cornelius was obedient to the heavenly vision. In the affairs of our souls, let us not lose time.