Text -- Acts 11:27-30 (NET)

Famine Relief for Judea

11:27 At that time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 11:28 One of them, named Agabus, got up and predicted by the Spirit that a severe famine was about to come over the whole inhabited world. (This took place during the reign of Claudius.) 11:29 So the disciples, each in accordance with his financial ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. 11:30 They did so, sending their financial aid to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Act 11:27

¹ tn Grk “In these days,” but the dative generally indicates a specific time.

² tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text, but is usually used in English when an unspecified number is mentioned.

³ sn Prophets are mentioned only here and in 13:1 and 21:10 in Acts.

⁴ sn Came down from Jerusalem. Antioch in Syria lies due north of Jerusalem. In Western languages it is common to speak of north as “up” and south as “down,” but the NT maintains the Hebrew idiom which speaks of any direction away from Jerusalem as down (since Mount Zion was thought of in terms of altitude).

⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

⁶ sn Antioch was a city in Syria (not Antioch in Pisidia). See the note in 11:19.

map For location see JP1 F2; JP2 F2; JP3 F2; JP4 F2

NET Notes: Act 11:28

¹ tn Grk “getting up, predicted.” The participle ἀναστάς (anasta") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

² tn Or “made clear”; Grk “indicated beforehand” (BDAG 920 s.v. σημαίνω 2).

³ tn Grk “great.”

⁴ sn This famine is one of the firmly fixed dates in Acts. It took place from a.d. 45-48. The events described in chap. 11 of Acts occurred during the early part of that period.

⁵ tn Or “whole Roman Empire.” While the word οἰκουμένη (oikoumenh) does occasionally refer specifically to the Roman Empire, BDAG 699 s.v. οἰκουνένη 2 does not list this passage (only Acts 24:5 and 17:6).

⁶ tn Grk “world, which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the demonstrative pronoun “this” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

⁷ sn This is best taken as a parenthetical note by the author. Claudius was the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54.

NET Notes: Act 11:29

¹ tn So BDAG 410 s.v. εὐπορέω.

² tn Or “determined,” “resolved.”

³ tn Grk “to send [something] for a ministry,” but today it is common to speak of sending relief for victims of natural disasters.

sn The financial relief reflects the oneness of the church, meeting the needs of another (even racially distinct) community. Jerusalem, having ministered to them, now received ministry back. A later collection from Greece is noted in Rom 15:25-27, but it reflects the same spirit as this gift.

NET Notes: Act 11:30

¹ tn Grk “Judea, which they did.” The relative pronoun was omitted and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

² tn The words “their financial aid” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.