3:15 Why do you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?” 9
The sovereign Lord who commands armies 10 has spoken.
1 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.
2 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.
3 tn That is, “the official in charge of the synagogue”; ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arcisunagwgo") refers to the “leader/president of a synagogue” (so BDAG 139 s.v. and L&N 53.93).
4 tn The imperfect verb ἔτυπτον (etupton) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.
5 sn See the note on the term judgment seat in 18:12.
6 tn L&N 25.223 has “‘none of these things were of any concern to Gallio’ Ac 18:17.”
7 tn Grk “And I said.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai, in καγώ [kagw]) has not been translated here.
8 tn For the distributive sense of the expression κατὰ τὰς συναγωγάς (kata ta" sunagwga") BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.1.d has “of places viewed serially, distributive use w. acc.…κατ᾿ οἶκαν from house to house…Ac 2:46b; 5:42…Likew. the pl.…κ. τὰς συναγωγάς 22:19.” See also L&N 37.114.
9 sn The rhetorical question expresses the Lord’s outrage at what the leaders have done to the poor. He finds it almost unbelievable that they would have the audacity to treat his people in this manner.
10 tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at 1:9.