Acts 3:12-15

3:12 When Peter saw this, he declared to the people, “Men of Israel, ¹  why are you amazed at this? Why ²  do you stare at us as if we had made this man ³  walk by our own power or piety? 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ⁴  the God of our forefathers, ⁵  has glorified ⁶  his servant ⁷  Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected ⁸  in the presence of Pilate after he had decided ⁹  to release him. 3:14 But you rejected ¹⁰  the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you. 3:15 You killed ¹¹  the Originator ¹²  of life, whom God raised ¹³  from the dead. To this fact we are witnesses! ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Or perhaps “People of Israel,” since this was taking place in Solomon’s Portico and women may have been present. The Greek ἄνδρες ᾿Ισραηλῖται (andre" Israhlitai) used in the plural would normally mean “men, gentlemen” (BDAG 79 s.v. ἀνήρ 1.a).

² tn Grk “or why.”

³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tc ‡ The repetition of ὁ θεός (Jo qeos, “God”) before the names of Isaac and Jacob is found in Ì⁷⁴ א C (A D without article) 36 104 1175 pc lat. The omission of the second and third ὁ θεός is supported by B E Ψ 33 1739 Ï pc. The other time that Exod 3:6 is quoted in Acts (7:32) the best witnesses also lack the repeated ὁ θεός, but the three other times this OT passage is quoted in the NT the full form, with the thrice-mentioned θεός, is used (Matt 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37). Scribes would be prone to conform the wording here to the LXX; the longer reading is thus most likely not authentic. NA²⁷ has the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

⁵ tn Or “ancestors”; Grk “fathers.”

⁶ sn Has glorified. Jesus is alive, raised and active, as the healing illustrates so dramatically how God honors him.

⁷ sn His servant. The term servant has messianic connotations given the context of the promise, the note of suffering, and the titles and functions noted in vv. 14-15.

⁸ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

⁹ tn This genitive absolute construction could be understood as temporal (“when he had decided”) or concessive (“although he had decided”).

¹⁰ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

¹¹ tn Or “You put to death.”

¹² tn Or “Founder,” “founding Leader.”

¹³ sn Whom God raised. God is the main actor here, as he testifies to Jesus and vindicates him.

¹⁴ tn Grk “whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the words “to this fact” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.