Isaiah 62:8-9

62:8 The Lord swears an oath by his right hand,

by his strong arm:¹

“I will never again give your grain

to your enemies as food,

and foreigners will not drink your wine,

which you worked hard to produce.

62:9 But those who harvest the grain² will eat it,

and will praise the Lord.

Those who pick the grapes will drink the wine³

in the courts of my holy sanctuary.”

Zechariah 9:15-17

9:15 The Lord who rules over all will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink, and will become noisy like drunkards,⁴ full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar.⁵ 9:16 On that day the Lord their God will deliver them as the flock of his people, for they are the precious stones of a crown sparkling over his land. 9:17 How precious and fair!⁶ Grain will make the young men flourish and new wine the young women.

Acts 2:11-13

2:11 both Jews and proselytes,⁷ Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!”⁸ 2:12 All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 2:13 But others jeered at the speakers,⁹ saying, “They are drunk on new wine!”¹⁰

Acts 2:46-47

2:46 Every day¹¹ they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts,¹² breaking bread from¹³ house to house, sharing their food with glad¹⁴ and humble hearts,¹⁵ 2:47 praising God and having the good will¹⁶ of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day¹⁷ those who were being saved.

Acts 4:31-32

4:31 When¹⁸ they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken,¹⁹ and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak²⁰ the word of God²¹ courageously.²²

Conditions Among the Early Believers

4:32 The group of those who believed were of one heart and mind,²³ and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but everything was held in common.²⁴

Acts 16:30-34

16:30 Then he brought them outside²⁵ and asked, “Sirs, what must²⁶ I do to be saved?” 16:31 They replied,²⁷ “Believe²⁸ in the Lord Jesus²⁹ and you will be saved, you and your household.” 16:32 Then³⁰ they spoke the word of the Lord³¹ to him, along with all those who were in his house. 16:33 At³² that hour of the night he took them³³ and washed their wounds;³⁴ then³⁵ he and all his family³⁶ were baptized right away.³⁷ 16:34 The jailer³⁸ brought them into his house and set food³⁹ before them, and he rejoiced greatly⁴⁰ that he had come to believe⁴¹ in God, together with his entire household.⁴²

¹tn The Lord’s right hand and strong arm here symbolize his power and remind the audience that his might guarantees the fulfillment of the following promise.

²tn Heb “it,” the grain mentioned in v. 8a.

³tn Heb “and those who gather it will drink it.” The masculine singular pronominal suffixes attached to “gather” and “drink” refer back to the masculine noun תִּירוֹשׁ (tirosh, “wine”) in v. 8b.

⁴tn Heb “they will drink and roar as with wine”; the LXX (followed here by NAB, NRSV) reads “they will drink blood like wine” (referring to a figurative “drinking” of the blood of their enemies).

⁵sn The whole setting is eschatological as the intensely figurative language shows. The message is that the Lord will assume his triumphant reign over all the earth and will use his own redeemed and renewed people Israel to accomplish that work. The imagery of v. 15 is the eating and drinking of the flesh and blood of God’s enemies, that is, Israel’s complete mastery of them. Like those who drink too much wine, the Lord’s warriors will be satiated with the blood of their foes and will exult as though drunk.

⁶sn This expostulation best fits the whole preceding description of God’s eschatological work on behalf of his people. His goodness is especially evident in his nurturing of the young men and women of his kingdom.

⁷sn Proselytes refers to Gentile (i.e., non-Jewish) converts to Judaism.

⁸tn Or “God’s mighty works.” Here the genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a subjective genitive.

⁹tn The words “the speakers” are not in the Greek text, but have been supplied for clarity. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

¹⁰tn Grk “They are full of new wine!”

¹¹tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

¹²tn Grk “in the temple.” This is actually a reference to the courts surrounding the temple proper, and has been translated accordingly.

¹³tn Here κατά (kata) is used as a distributive (BDAG 512 s.v. B.1.d).

¹⁴sn The term glad (Grk “gladness”) often refers to joy brought about by God’s saving acts (Luke 1:14, 44; also the related verb in 1:47; 10:21).

¹⁵tn Grk “with gladness and humbleness of hearts.” It is best to understand καρδίας (kardias) as an attributed genitive, with the two nouns it modifies actually listing attributes of the genitive noun which is related to them.

¹⁶tn Or “the favor.”

¹⁷tn BDAG 437 s.v. ἡμέρα 2.c has “every day” for this phrase.

¹⁸tn Grk “And when.” 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.

¹⁹sn The place where they were assembled…was shaken. This signifies that God is in their midst. See Acts 16:26; Exod 19:18; Ps 114:7; Isa 6:4.

²⁰tn The imperfect verb has been translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to speak”). Logical sequencing suggests that their speaking began after they were filled with the Spirit. The prayer was answered immediately.

²¹tn Or “speak God’s message.”

²²tn Or “with boldness.”

²³tn Grk “soul.”

²⁴tn Grk “but all things were to them in common.”

²⁵tn Grk “And bringing them outside, he asked.” The participle προαγαγών (proagagwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun by supplying the conjunction “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

²⁶tn The Greek term (δεῖ, dei) is used by Luke to represent divine necessity.

²⁷tn Grk “said.”

²⁸sn Here the summary term of response is a call to believe. In this context it refers to trusting the sovereign God’s power to deliver, which events had just pictured for the jailer.

²⁹tc The majority of mss add Χριστόν (Criston, “Christ”) here (C D E Ψ 1739 Ï sy sa), but the best and earliest witnesses read simply τὸν κύριον ᾿Ιησοῦν (ton kurion Ihsoun, “the Lord Jesus”; Ì^74vid א A B 33 81 pc bo). The addition of “Christ” to “Lord Jesus” is an obviously motivated reading. Thus on both external and internal grounds, the shorter reading is strongly preferred.

³⁰tn Grk “And they.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the continuity with the preceding verse. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style does not.

³¹sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; Luke 22:61, Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; here and in Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.

³²tn Grk “And at.” 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.

³³tn Grk “taking them…he washed.” The participle παραλαβών (paralabwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

³⁴tn On this phrase BDAG 603 s.v. λούω 1 gives a literal translation as “by washing he freed them from the effects of the blows.”

³⁵tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

³⁶sn All his family. It was often the case in the ancient world that conversion of the father led to the conversion of all those in the household.

³⁷tn Or “immediately.”

³⁸tn Grk “He”; the referent (the jailer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³⁹tn Grk “placed [food] on the table” (a figurative expression). Since the actual word for food is not specified, it would also be possible to translate “set a meal before them,” but since this is taking place in the middle of the night, the preparations necessary for a full meal would probably not have been made. More likely Paul and Silas were given whatever was on hand that needed little or no preparation.

⁴⁰tn Or “he was overjoyed.”

⁴¹tn The translation “come to believe” reflects more of the resultative nuance of the perfect tense here.

⁴²tn The phrase “together with his entire household” is placed at the end of the English sentence so that it refers to both the rejoicing and the belief. A formal equivalence translation would have “and he rejoiced greatly with his entire household that he had come to believe in God,” but the reference to the entire household being baptized in v. 33 presumes that all in the household believed.