Acts 3:14

3:14 But you rejected ¹  the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to you.

Acts 7:46

7:46 He ²  found favor ³  with ⁴  God and asked that he could ⁵  find a dwelling place ⁶  for the house ⁷  of Jacob.

Acts 16:29

16:29 Calling for lights, the jailer ⁸  rushed in and fell down ⁹  trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas.

Acts 25:3

25:3 Requesting him to do them a favor against Paul, ¹⁰  they urged Festus ¹¹  to summon him to Jerusalem, planning an ambush ¹²  to kill him along the way.

¹ tn Or “denied,” “disowned.”

² tn Grk “David, who” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.

³ tn Or “grace.”

⁴ tn Grk “before,” “in the presence of.”

⁵ tn The words “that he could” are not in the Greek text, but are implied as the (understood) subject of the infinitive εὑρεῖν (Jeurein). This understands David’s request as asking that he might find the dwelling place. The other possibility would be to supply “that God” as the subject of the infinitive: “and asked that God find a dwelling place.” Unfortunately this problem is complicated by the extremely difficult problem with the Greek text in the following phrase (“house of Jacob” vs. “God of Jacob”).

⁶ tn On this term see BDAG 929 s.v. σκήνωμα a (Ps 132:5).

⁷ tc Some mss read θεῷ (qew, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is supported by א² A C E Ψ 33 1739 Ï lat sy co. The more difficult οἴκῳ (oikw, “house”) is supported by Ì⁷⁴ א* B D H 049 pc. Thus the second reading is preferred both externally because of better ms evidence and internally because it is hard to see how a copyist finding the reading “God” would change it to “house,” while it is easy to see how (given the LXX of Ps 132:5) a copyist might assimilate the reading and change “house” to “God.” However, some scholars think the reading “house” is so difficult as to be unacceptable. Others (like Lachmann and Hort) resorted to conjectural emendation at this point. Others (Ropes) sought an answer in an underlying Aramaic expression. Not everyone thinks the reading “house” is too difficult to be accepted as original (see Lake and Cadbury). A. F. J. Klijn, “Stephen’s Speech – Acts vii.2-53,” NTS 4 (1957): 25-31, compared the idea of a “house within the house of Israel” with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran, a possible parallel that seems to support the reading “house” as authentic. (For the more detailed discussion from which this note was derived, see TCGNT 308-9.)

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

⁴ tn Or “and prostrated himself.”

⁴ tn Grk “Requesting a favor against him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation, the understood direct object of “requesting” has been supplied, and the phrase “to do them” supplied for clarity.

⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Festus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “they urged him” are in v. 2 in the Greek text.

⁶ sn Planning an ambush. The Jewish leadership had not forgotten the original plan of several years ago (see 23:16). They did not trust the Roman legal process, but preferred to take matters into their own hands.