“Men of Israel, 16 and you Gentiles who fear God, 17 listen:
26:1 So Agrippa 18 said to Paul, “You have permission 19 to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand 20 and began his defense: 21
1 sn That is, considered worthy by God. They “gloried in their shame” of honoring Jesus with their testimony (Luke 6:22-23; 2 Macc 6:30).
2 sn The name refers to the name of Jesus (cf. 3 John 7).
3 tn The participle προσδραμών (prosdramwn) is regarded as attendant circumstance.
4 tn The words “to it” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
5 tn Grk “heard him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun.
7 tn Grk “he said”; but since what follows is a question, it is better English style to translate the introduction to the question “he asked him.”
5 tn The words “against him” are implied, as suggested by L&N 30.71.
6 tn Or “guarding.” This is a negative term in Luke-Acts (Luke 6:7; 14:1; 20:20).
7 tn The word πύλη (pulh) may refer to a house door or gate, or to the large gates used in a palace, temple, or city wall. Here the context clearly indicates a reference to the latter, so the translation “city gates” is used.
7 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
8 tn Or “the Jewish Christians”; Grk “those of the circumcision.” Within the larger group of Christians were some whose loyalties ran along ethnic-religious lines.
9 tn Or “believers disputed with,” “believers criticized” (BDAG 231 s.v. διακρίνω 5.b).
9 tn This participle, ἀναστάς (anasta"), and the following one, κατασείσας (kataseisa"), are both translated as adverbial participles of attendant circumstance.
10 tn Or “motioned.”
11 tn Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context involving an address to a synagogue gathering, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage, although it can also be argued that Paul’s remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.
12 tn Grk “and those who fear God,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44.
11 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
12 tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”
13 tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).
14 tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”