Acts 17:20

17:20 For you are bringing some surprising things ¹  to our ears, so we want to know what they ²  mean.”

Acts 17:28-29

17:28 For in him we live and move about ³  and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’ ⁴  17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity ⁵  is like gold or silver or stone, an image ⁶  made by human ⁷  skill ⁸  and imagination. ⁹ 

¹ tn BDAG 684 s.v. ξενίζω 2 translates the substantival participle ξενίζοντα (xenizonta) as “astonishing things Ac 17:20.”

² tn Grk “these things”; but since the referent (“surprising things”) is so close, the repetition of “these things” sounds redundant in English, so the pronoun “they” was substituted in the translation.

³ tn According to L&N 15.1, “A strictly literal translation of κινέω in Ac 17:28 might imply merely moving from one place to another. The meaning, however, is generalized movement and activity; therefore, it may be possible to translate κινούμεθα as ‘we come and go’ or ‘we move about’’ or even ‘we do what we do.’”

⁴ sn This quotation is from Aratus (ca. 310-245 b.c.), Phaenomena 5. Paul asserted a general relationship and accountability to God for all humanity.

⁵ tn Or “the divine being.” BDAG 446 s.v. θεῖος 1.b has “divine being, divinity” here.

⁶ tn Or “a likeness.” Again idolatry is directly attacked as an affront to God and a devaluation of him.

⁷ tn Grk “by the skill and imagination of man,” but ἀνθρώπου (anqrwpou) has been translated as an attributive genitive.

⁸ tn Or “craftsmanship” (cf. BDAG 1001 s.v. τέχνη).

⁹ tn Or “thought.” BDAG 336 s.v. ἐνθύμησις has “thought, reflection, idea” as the category of meaning here, but in terms of creativity (as in the context) the imaginative faculty is in view.