4:5 On the next day, 12 their rulers, elders, and experts in the law 13 came together 14 in Jerusalem. 15
13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. 16 Let them do this 17 with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.
1 tn The two different words for labor are translated “in hard work and toil” by L&N 42.48.
2 tn Grk “in cold and nakedness.” Paul does not mean complete nakedness, however, which would have been repugnant to a Jew; he refers instead to the lack of sufficient clothing, especially in cold weather. A related word is used to 1 Cor 4:11, also in combination with experiencing hunger and thirst.
3 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
4 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 10:44.
5 tn Grk “giving.”
6 tn Or “be watchful.”
7 tn Or “admonishing.”
8 tn BDAG 633 s.v. μέρος 1.b.γ gives the meanings “the parts (of a geographical area), region, district,” but the use of “district” in this context probably implies too much specificity.
9 tn Grk “and encouraging them with many words.” The participle παρακαλέσας (parakalesa", “encouraging”) has been translated by the phrase “spoken…words of encouragement” because the formal equivalent is awkward in contemporary English.
10 tn Grk “[to] them”; the referent (the believers there) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn In popular usage the term translated “Greece” here could also refer to the Roman province officially known as Achaia (BDAG 318 s.v. ῾Ελλάς).
12 tn Grk “It happened that on the next day.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
13 tn Or “and scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
14 tn Or “law assembled,” “law met together.”
15 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
16 tn Or “as ones who will give an account”; Grk “as giving an account.”
17 tn Grk “that they may do this.”