Acts 23:23-24

23:23 Then ¹  he summoned ²  two of the centurions ³  and said, “Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea ⁴  along with seventy horsemen ⁵  and two hundred spearmen ⁶  by ⁷  nine o’clock tonight, ⁸  23:24 and provide mounts for Paul to ride ⁹  so that he may be brought safely to Felix ¹⁰  the governor.” ¹¹ 

¹ tn Grk “And.” Since this represents a response to the reported ambush, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

² tn Grk “summoning…he said.” The participle προσκαλεσάμενος (proskalesameno") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

³ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

⁴ 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. This was a journey of about 65 mi (just over 100 km).

⁵ tn Or “cavalrymen.”

⁶ tn A military technical term of uncertain meaning. BDAG 217 s.v. δεξιολάβος states, “a word of uncertain mng., military t.t., acc. to Joannes Lydus…and Theophyl. Sim., Hist. 4, 1 a light-armed soldier, perh. bowman, slinger; acc. to a scholion in CMatthaei p. 342 body-guard….Spearman Goodspd., NRSV; ‘security officer’, GDKilpatrick, JTS 14, ’63, 393f.”

⁷ tn Grk “from.”

⁸ tn Grk “from the third hour of the night.”

⁹ tn Grk “provide mounts to put Paul on.”

¹⁰ sn Felix the governor was Antonius Felix, a freedman of Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius. He was the brother of Pallas and became procurator of Palestine in a.d. 52/53. His administration was notorious for its corruption, cynicism, and cruelty. According to the historian Tacitus (History 5.9) Felix “reveled in cruelty and lust, and wielded the power of a king with the mind of a slave.”

¹¹ tn Grk “Felix the procurator.” The official Roman title has been translated as “governor” (BDAG 433 s.v. ἡγεμών 2).