Acts 18:9-11

18:9 The Lord said to Paul by a vision ¹  in the night, ²  “Do not be afraid, ³  but speak and do not be silent, 18:10 because I am with you, and no one will assault ⁴  you to harm ⁵  you, because I have many people in this city.” 18:11 So he stayed there ⁶  a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. ⁷ 

¹ sn Frequently in Acts such a vision will tell the reader where events are headed. See Acts 10:9-16 and 16:9-10 for other accounts of visions.

² tn BDAG 682 s.v. νύξ 1.c has “W. prep. ἐν ν. at night, in the night…Ac 18:9.”

³ tn The present imperative here (with negation) is used (as it normally is) of a general condition (BDF §335).

⁴ tn BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 2 has “to set upon, attack, lay a hand on” here, but “assault” is a contemporary English equivalent very close to the meaning of the original.

⁵ tn Or “injure.”

⁶ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

⁷ tn See BDAG 326-27 s.v. ἐν 1.d. However, it is also possible that ἐν (en) followed by the dative here stands for the ordinary dative (“to them”).