16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying 21 and singing hymns to God, 22 and the rest of 23 the prisoners were listening to them. 16:26 Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds 24 of all the prisoners came loose. 16:27 When the jailer woke up 25 and saw the doors of the prison standing open, 26 he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, 27 because he assumed 28 the prisoners had escaped.
1 tn Grk “And” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the logical sequence of events.
2 tn Or “they arrested”; Grk “they laid hands on.”
3 tn Or “prison,” “custody.”
4 tn Or “began to harm [the church] severely.” If the nuance of this verb is “destroy,” then the imperfect verb ἐλυμαίνετο (elumaineto) is best translated as a conative imperfect as in the translation above. If instead the verb is taken to mean “injure severely” (as L&N 20.24), it should be translated in context as an ingressive imperfect (“began to harm the church severely”). Either option does not significantly alter the overall meaning, since it is clear from the stated actions of Saul in the second half of the verse that he intended to destroy or ravage the church.
5 tn The participle σύρων (surwn) has been translated as an finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
6 tn BDAG 762 s.v. παραδίδωμι 1.b has “εἰς φυλακήν put in prison Ac 8:3.”
7 tn Or “constantly.” This term also appears in Luke 22:14 and Acts 26:7.
8 tn Grk “but earnest prayer was being made by the church to God for him.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged to follow English style, and the somewhat awkward passive “prayer was being made” has been changed to the simpler active verb “were praying.” Luke portrays what follows as an answer to prayer.
9 tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.
10 tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.
11 tn Or “were guarding.”
12 tn Grk “And behold.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The interjection ἰδού (idou), often difficult to translate into English, expresses the suddenness of the angel’s appearance.
13 tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.
14 tn Grk “striking the side of Peter, he awoke him saying.” The term refers to a push or a light tap (BDAG 786 s.v. πατάσσω 1.a). The participle πατάξας (pataxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
15 tn Grk “his”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Grk “the hands,” but the wrist was considered a part of the hand.
17 tn Grk “Having inflicted many blows on them.” The participle ἐπιθέντες (epiqente") has been taken temporally. BDAG 384 s.v. ἐπιτίθημι 1.a.β has “inflict blows upon someone” for this expression, but in this context it is simpler to translate in English as “they had beaten them severely.”
18 tn Grk “commanding.” The participle παραγγείλαντες (parangeilante") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
19 tn Or “prison.”
20 tn L&N 6.21 has “stocks” for εἰς τὸ ξύλον (ei" to xulon) here, as does BDAG 685 s.v. ξύλον 2.b. However, it is also possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied. Such a possibility is suggested by v. 26, where the “bonds” (“chains”?) of the prisoners loosened.
21 tn Grk “praying, were singing.” The participle προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
22 sn Praying and singing hymns to God. Tertullian said, “The legs feel nothing in the stocks when the heart is in heaven” (To the Martyrs 2; cf. Rom 5:3; Jas 1:2; 1 Pet 5:6). The presence of God means the potential to be free (cf. v. 26).
23 tn The words “the rest of” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
24 tn Or perhaps, “chains.” The translation of τὰ δεσμά (ta desma) is to some extent affected by the understanding of ξύλον (xulon, “stocks”) in v. 24. It is possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied.
25 tn L&N 23.75 has “had awakened” here. It is more in keeping with contemporary English style, however, to keep the two verbal ideas parallel in terms of tense (“when the jailer woke up and saw”) although logically the second action is subsequent to the first.
26 tn The additional semantic component “standing” is supplied (“standing open”) to convey a stative nuance in English.
27 sn Was about to kill himself. The jailer’s penalty for failing to guard the prisoners would have been death, so he contemplated saving the leaders the trouble (see Acts 12:19; 27:42).
28 tn Or “thought.”
29 sn But before all this. Another note of timing is present, this one especially important in understanding the sequence in the discourse. Before the things noted in vv. 8-11 are the events of vv. 12-19.
30 tn Grk “will lay their hands on you.”
31 sn Some of the persecution is of Jewish origin (the synagogues). Some fulfillment of this can be seen in Acts. See the note on synagogues in 4:15.
32 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
33 sn These two small copper coins were lepta (sing. “lepton”), the smallest and least valuable coins in circulation in Palestine, worth one-half of a quadrans or 1/128 of a denarius, or about six minutes of an average daily wage. This was next to nothing in value.
34 tn BDAG 276 s.v. ἑδραῖος suggests “firm, steadfast.”
35 tn BDAG 639 s.v. μετακινέω suggests “without shifting from the hope” here.
36 tn Grk “is about to throw some of you,” but the force is causative in context.
37 tn Or “tempted.”
38 tn Or “experience persecution,” “will be in distress” (see L&N 22.2).
39 tn Grk “crown of life,” with the genitive “of life” (τῆς ζωῆς, th" zwh") functioning in apposition to “crown” (στέφανον, stefanon): “the crown that consists of life.”