14:9 Who is wise?
Let him discern 24 these things!
Who is discerning?
Let him understand them!
For the ways of the Lord are right;
the godly walk in them,
but in them the rebellious stumble.
1:23 John 25 said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight 26 the way for the Lord,’ 27 as Isaiah the prophet said.”
1 tn Or “had been taught.”
2 tn Grk “and boiling in spirit” (an idiom for great eagerness or enthusiasm; BDAG 426 s.v. ζέω).
3 tn Grk “the things.”
4 tn Grk “knowing”; the participle ἐπιστάμενος (epistameno") has been translated as a concessive adverbial participle.
5 tn Or “boldly.” This is a frequent term in Acts (9:27-28; 13:46; 14:3; 19:8; 26:26).
6 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
7 sn Priscilla and Aquila. This key couple, of which Priscilla was an important enough figure to be mentioned by name, instructed Apollos about the most recent work of God. See also the note on Aquila in 18:2.
8 tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσλαμβάνω 3 has “take aside, mid. τινά someone…So prob. also Ac 18:26: Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos aside to teach him undisturbed.”
9 tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the
10 tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).
11 tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the
12 tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.
13 tn Heb “spoke to.”
14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
16 tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) draws attention to what he saw. The drawn-out description focuses the reader’s attention on Abraham’s deliberate, fixed gaze and indicates that what he is seeing is significant.
17 tn The Hebrew preposition עַל (’al) indicates the three men were nearby, but not close by, for Abraham had to run to meet them.
18 tn The pronoun “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.
19 tn The form וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ (vayyishtakhu, “and bowed low”) is from the verb הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה (hishtakhavah, “to worship, bow low to the ground”). It is probably from a root חָוָה (khavah), though some derive it from שָׁחָה (shakhah).
20 sn The reader knows this is a theophany. The three visitors are probably the
21 tn This verb starts a series of perfect verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive to express God’s intentions.
22 tn Heb “exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.
23 tn Heb “and I will make you into nations, and kings will come out from you.”
24 tn The shortened form of the prefix-conjugation verb וְיָבֵן (vÿyaven) indicates that it is a jussive rather than an imperfect. When a jussive comes from a superior to an inferior, it may connote exhortation and instruction or advice and counsel. For the functions of the jussive, see IBHS 568-70 §34.3.
25 tn Grk “He”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
26 sn This call to “make straight” is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.
27 sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.