Acts 6:6

6:6 They stood these men before the apostles, who prayed ¹  and placed ²  their hands on them.

Acts 8:14-18

8:14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem ³  heard that Samaria had accepted the word ⁴  of God, they sent ⁵  Peter and John to them. 8:15 These two ⁶  went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit. 8:16 (For the Spirit ⁷  had not yet come upon ⁸  any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ⁹  8:17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on the Samaritans, ¹⁰  and they received the Holy Spirit. ¹¹ 

8:18 Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit ¹²  was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money,

Acts 13:3

13:3 Then, after they had fasted ¹³  and ¹⁴  prayed and placed their hands ¹⁵  on them, they sent them off.

Acts 19:6

19:6 and when Paul placed ¹⁶  his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came ¹⁷  upon them, and they began to speak ¹⁸  in tongues and to prophesy. ¹⁹ 

¹ tn Literally this is a participle in the Greek text (προσευξάμενοι, proseuxamenoi). It could be translated as a finite verb (“and they prayed and placed their hands on them”) but much smoother English results if the entire coordinate clause is converted to a relative clause that refers back to the apostles.

² tn Or “laid.”

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ tn Or “message.”

⁵ sn They sent. The Jerusalem church with the apostles was overseeing the expansion of the church, as the distribution of the Spirit indicates in vv. 15-17.

⁶ tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the phrase “these two” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

⁷ tn Grk “For he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Or “fallen on.”

⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

¹⁰ tn Grk “on them”; the referent (the Samaritans) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ sn They received the Holy Spirit. It is likely this special distribution of the Spirit took place because a key ethnic boundary was being crossed. Here are some of “those far off” of Acts 2:38-40.

¹² tc Most witnesses (Ì^45,74 A* C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï latt sy bo) here read “the Holy Spirit” (τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, to pneuma to {agion), while a few key mss have simply τὸ πνεῦμα (א A^c B sa mae). Although it is possible that some scribes omitted τὸ ἅγιον because of its perceived superfluity (note vv. 15, 17, 19), it is far more likely that others added the adjective out of pious motives.

¹³ tn The three aorist participles νηστεύσαντες (nhsteusante"), προσευξάμενοι (proseuxamenoi), and ἐπιθέντες (epiqente") are translated as temporal participles. Although they could indicate contemporaneous time when used with an aorist main verb, logically here they are antecedent. On fasting and prayer, see Matt 6:5, 16; Luke 2:37; 5:33; Acts 14:23.

¹⁴ tn Normally English style, which uses a coordinating conjunction between only the last two elements of a series of three or more, would call for omission of “and” here. However, since the terms “fasting and prayer” are something of a unit, often linked together, the conjunction has been retained here.

¹⁵ sn The placing of hands on Barnabas and Saul (traditionally known as “the laying on of hands”) refers to an act picturing the commission of God and the church for the task at hand.

¹⁶ tn Or “laid.”

¹⁷ sn The coming of the Holy Spirit here is another case where the Spirit comes and prophesy results in Acts (see Acts 2). Paul’s action parallels that of Peter (Acts 8) and not just with Gentiles.

¹⁸ tn The imperfect verb ἐλάλουν (elaloun) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

¹⁹ tn The imperfect verb ἐπροφήτευον (eprofhteuon) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.