Text -- Acts 3:1-5 (NET)

Peter and John Heal a Lame Man at the Temple

3:1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time for prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. 3:2 And a man lame from birth was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called “the Beautiful Gate” every day so he could beg for money from those going into the temple courts. 3:3 When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, he asked them for money. 3:4 Peter looked directly at him (as did John) and said, “Look at us!” 3:5 So the lame man paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Act 3:1

¹ tn Grk “hour.”

² sn Going up to the temple at the time for prayer. The earliest Christians, being of Jewish roots, were still participating in the institutions of Judaism at this point. Their faith in Christ did not make them non-Jewish in their practices.

³ tn Grk “at the ninth hour.” This is calculated from sunrise (Josephus, Ant. 14.4.3 [14.65]; Dan 9:21).

NET Notes: Act 3:2

¹ tn Or “crippled.”

² tn Grk “from his mother’s womb.”

³ tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

⁴ tn Grk “alms.” The term “alms” is not in common use today, so what the man expected, “money,” is used in the translation instead. The idea is that of money given as a gift to someone who was poor. Giving alms was viewed as honorable in Judaism (Tob 1:3, 16; 12:8-9; m. Pe’ah 1:1). See also Luke 11:41; 12:33; Acts 9:36; 10:2, 4, 31; 24:17.

⁵ tn Grk “the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

sn Into the temple courts. The exact location of this incident is debated. The ‘Beautiful Gate’ referred either to the Nicanor Gate (which led from the Court of the Gentiles into the Court of Women) or the Shushan Gate at the eastern wall.

NET Notes: Act 3:3

¹ tn Grk “the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

sn See the note on the phrase the temple courts in the previous verse.

² tn Grk “alms.” See the note on the word “money” in the previous verse.

NET Notes: Act 3:4

¹ tn Grk “Peter, looking directly at him, as did John, said.” The participle ἀτενίσας (atenisas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

NET Notes: Act 3:5

¹ tn Grk “So he”; the referent (the lame man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.