Acts 2:37

The Response to Peter’s Address

2:37 Now when they heard this, ¹  they were acutely distressed ²  and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”

Acts 5:40

5:40 and they summoned the apostles and had them beaten. ³  Then ⁴  they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them.

¹ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

² tn Grk “they were pierced to the heart” (an idiom for acute emotional distress).

³ sn Had them beaten. The punishment was the “forty lashes minus one,” see also Acts 22:19; 2 Cor 11:24; Mark 13:9. The apostles had disobeyed the religious authorities and took their punishment for their “disobedience” (Deut 25:2-3; m. Makkot 3:10-14). In Acts 4:18 they were warned. Now they are beaten. The hostility is rising as the narrative unfolds.

⁴ tn The word “Then” is supplied as the beginning of a new sentence in the translation. The construction in Greek has so many clauses (most of them made up of participles) that a continuous English sentence would be very awkward.