17:24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, 1 so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world 2 .
15:1 Now some men came down from Judea 5 and began to teach the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised 6 according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
1 tn Grk “the ones you have given me, I want these to be where I am with me.”
2 tn Grk “before the foundation of the world.”
3 sn Who makes these things known. The remark emphasizes how God’s design of these things reaches back to the time he declared them.
4 sn An allusion to Isa 45:21.
5 sn That is, they came down from Judea to Antioch in Syria.
6 tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other witnesses have “and walk” here (i.e., instead of τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως [tw eqei tw Mwu>sew"] they read καὶ τῷ ἔθει τῷ Μωϋσέως περιπατῆτε [kai tw eqei tw Mwu>sew" peripathte]). This is a decidedly stronger focus on obedience to the Law. As well, D expands vv. 1-5 in various places with the overall effect of being “more sympathetic to the local tradition of the church at Jerusalem” while the Alexandrian witnesses are more sympathetic to Paul (TCGNT 377). Codex D is well known for having a significantly longer text in Acts, but modern scholarship is generally of the opinion that the text of D expands on the original wording of Acts, with a theological viewpoint that especially puts Peter in a more authoritarian light. The expansion in these five verses is in keeping with that motif even though Peter is not explicitly in view.
7 tn Or “uninhabited” or “empty.”
8 sn A quotation from Ps 69:25.
9 tn Or “Let another take his office.”
10 tn Grk “it”; the referent (the beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn The prepositional phrase “since the foundation of the world” is traditionally translated as a modifier of the immediately preceding phrase in the Greek text, “the Lamb who was killed” (so also G. B. Caird, Revelation [HNTC], 168), but it is more likely that the phrase “since the foundation of the world” modifies the verb “written” (as translated above). Confirmation of this can be found in Rev 17:8 where the phrase “written in the book of life since the foundation of the world” occurs with no ambiguity.
12 tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”
13 tn On this term BDAG 2 s.v. ἄβυσσος 2 states, “netherworld, abyss, esp. the abode of the dead Ro 10:7 (Ps 106:26) and of demons Lk 8:31; dungeon where the devil is kept Rv 20:3; abode of the θηρίον, the Antichrist 11:7; 17:8; of ᾿Αβαδδών (q.v.), the angel of the underworld 9:11…φρέαρ τῆς ἀ. 9:1f; capable of being sealed 9:1; 20:1, 3.”
14 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
15 tn Some translations take the ὅτι (Joti) here as causal: “because he was, and is not, but is to come” (so NIV, NRSV), but it is much more likely that the subject of the ὅτι clause has been assimilated into the main clause: “when they see the beast, that he was…” = “when they see that the beast was” (so BDAG 732 s.v. ὅτι 1.f, where Rev 17:8 is listed).