Acts 12:19

12:19 When Herod ¹  had searched ²  for him and did not find him, he questioned ³  the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. ⁴  Then ⁵  Herod ⁶  went down from Judea to Caesarea ⁷  and stayed there.

Acts 18:2

18:2 There he ⁸  found ⁹  a Jew named Aquila, ¹⁰  a native of Pontus, ¹¹  who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius ¹²  had ordered all the Jews to depart from ¹³  Rome. ¹⁴  Paul approached ¹⁵  them,

Acts 21:34

21:34 But some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else, ¹⁶  and when the commanding officer ¹⁷  was unable ¹⁸  to find out the truth ¹⁹  because of the disturbance, ²⁰  he ordered Paul ²¹  to be brought into the barracks. ²² 

¹ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

² tn Or “had instigated a search” (Herod would have ordered the search rather than conducting it himself).

³ tn “Questioned” is used to translate ἀνακρίνας (anakrina") here because a possible translation offered by BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω for this verse is “examined,” which could be understood to mean Herod inspected the guards rather than questioned them. The translation used by the NIV, “cross-examined,” also avoids this possible misunderstanding.

⁴ tn The meaning “led away to execution” for ἀπαχθῆναι (apacqhnai) in this verse is given by BDAG 95 s.v. ἀπάγω 2.c. Although an explicit reference to execution is lacking here, it is what would usually occur in such a case (Acts 16:27; 27:42; Code of Justinian 9.4.4). “Led away to torture” is a less likely option (Pliny the Younger, Letters 10, 96, 8).

⁵ tn Grk “and,” but the sequence of events is better expressed in English by “then.” A new sentence is begun in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek, which exceeds normal English sentence length.

⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Since Herod has been the subject of the preceding material, and the circumstances of his death are the subject of the following verses (20-23), it is best to understand Herod as the subject here. This is especially true since according to Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 [19.343-352], Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44, and vv. 20-23 here describe his death. Thus the end of v. 19 provides Luke’s transition to explain how Herod got from Jerusalem to Caesarea where he died. In spite of all this evidence, the NRSV translates this phrase “Then Peter went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there,” understanding the referent to be Peter rather than Herod Agrippa I.

⁷ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.

⁸ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

⁹ tn Grk “finding.” The participle εὑρών (Jeurwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹⁰ sn On Aquila and his wife Priscilla see also Acts 18:18, 26; Rom 16:3-4; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4:19. In the NT “Priscilla” and “Prisca” are the same person. This author uses the full name Priscilla, while Paul uses the diminutive form Prisca.

¹¹ sn Pontus was a region in the northeastern part of Asia Minor. It was a Roman province.

¹² sn Claudius refers to the Roman emperor Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus, known as Claudius, who ruled from a.d. 41-54. The edict expelling the Jews from Rome was issued in a.d. 49 (Suetonius, Claudius 25.4).

¹³ tn Or “to leave.”

¹⁴ map For location see JP4-A1.

¹⁵ tn Or “went to.”

¹⁵ tn L&N 33.77 has “ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλο τι ἐπεφώνουν ἐν τῷ ὄχλῳ ‘some in the crowd shouted one thing; others, something else’ Ac 21:34.”

¹⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the commanding officer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ tn This genitive absolute construction has been translated temporally; it could also be taken causally: “and since the commanding officer was unable to find out the truth.”

¹⁸ tn Or “find out what had happened”; Grk “the certainty” (BDAG 147 s.v. ἀσφαλής 2).

¹⁹ tn Or “clamor,” “uproar” (BDAG 458 s.v. θόρυβος).

²⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²¹ tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”