Now on that day a great 2 persecution began 3 against the church in Jerusalem, 4 and all 5 except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions 6 of Judea and Samaria.
8:14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem 7 heard that Samaria had accepted the word 8 of God, they sent 9 Peter and John to them. 8:15 These two 10 went down and prayed for them so that they would receive the Holy Spirit.
1 tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).
2 tn Or “severe.”
3 tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”
4 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
5 sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.
6 tn Or “countryside.”
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 “message.”
9 sn They sent. The Jerusalem church with the apostles was overseeing the expansion of the church, as the distribution of the Spirit indicates in vv. 15-17.
10 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the phrase “these two” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.
11 tn Or “appeared.”
12 sn Azotus was a city on the coast of southern Palestine, known as Ashdod in OT times.
13 tn The words “the area” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
14 tn Or “he preached the gospel.”
15 tn Or “cities.”
16 sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.