5:29 Then 1 Levi gave a great banquet 2 in his house for Jesus, 3 and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting 4 at the table with them.
64:5 You assist 5 those who delight in doing what is right, 6
who observe your commandments. 7
Look, you were angry because we violated them continually.
How then can we be saved? 8
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
2 sn A great banquet refers to an elaborate meal. Many of the events in Luke take place in the context of meal fellowship: 7:36-50; 9:12-17; 10:38-42; 11:37-54; 14:1-24; 22:7-38; 24:29-32, 41-43.
3 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Grk “reclining.” This term reflects the normal practice in 1st century Jewish culture of eating a meal in a semi-reclining position. Since it is foreign to most modern readers, the translation “sitting” has been substituted.
5 tn Heb “meet [with kindness].”
6 tn Heb “the one who rejoices and does righteousness.”
7 tn Heb “in your ways they remember you.”
8 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “look, you were angry and we sinned against them continually [or perhaps, “in ancient times”] and we were delivered.” The statement makes little sense as it stands. The first vav [ו] consecutive (“and we sinned”) must introduce an explanatory clause here (see Num 1:48 and Isa 39:1 for other examples of this relatively rare use of the vav [ו] consecutive). The final verb (if rendered positively) makes no sense in this context – God’s anger at their sin resulted in judgment, not deliverance. One of the alternatives involves an emendation to וַנִּרְשָׁע (vannirsha’, “and we were evil”; LXX, NRSV, TEV). The Vulgate and the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa support the MT reading. One can either accept an emendation or cast the statement as a question (as above).
9 tn Or “who acknowledged the truth of.”
10 tn Grk “word.”
11 tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).
12 tn Or “were won over.”
13 tn Grk “urged us, saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
14 tn This is a first class condition in Greek, with the statement presented as real or true for the sake of the argument.
15 tn Or “faithful to the Lord.” BDAG 821 s.v. πίστος 2 states concerning this verse, “Of one who confesses the Christian faith believing or a believer in the Lord, in Christ, in God πιστ. τῷ κυρίῳ Ac 16:15.” L&N 11.17 has “one who is included among the faithful followers of Christ – ‘believer, Christian, follower.’”
16 tn Although BDAG 759 s.v. παραβιάζομαι has “urge strongly, prevail upon,” in contemporary English “persuade” is a more frequently used synonym for “prevail upon.”
17 tn Grk “He”; the referent (the jailer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 tn 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.
19 tn Or “he was overjoyed.”
20 tn The translation “come to believe” reflects more of the resultative nuance of the perfect tense here.
21 tn 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.