119:51 Arrogant people do nothing but scoff at me. 1
Yet I do not turn aside from your law.
119:110 The wicked lay a trap for me,
but I do not wander from your precepts.
44:17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you 2
or violated your covenant with us. 3
17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger. 4
23:11 My feet 5 have followed 6 his steps closely;
I have kept to his way and have not turned aside. 7
42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed 8
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands 9 will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” 10
20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging 22 them and saying farewell, 23 he left to go to Macedonia. 24
1:1 From Paul, 25 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 tn Heb “scoff at me to excess.”
2 tn Heb “we have not forgotten you.” To “forget” God refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see v. 20, as well as Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 9:17).Thus the translation “we have not rejected you” has been used.
3 tn Heb “and we did not deal falsely with your covenant.”
3 tn The last two words are the imperfect verb יֹסִיף (yosif) which means “he adds,” and the abstract noun “energy, strength.” This noun is not found elsewhere; its Piel verb occurs in Job 4:4 and 16:5. “he increases strength.”
4 tn Heb “my foot.”
5 tn Heb “held fast.”
6 tn The last clause, “and I have not turned aside,” functions adverbially in the sentence. The form אָט (’at) is a pausal form of אַתֶּה (’atteh), the Hiphil of נָטָה (natah, “stretch out”).
5 tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.
6 tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”
7 tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).
6 tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”
7 tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn” (BDAG 233 s.v. διαμαρτύρομαι 2 has “solemnly urge, exhort, warn…w. dat. of pers. addressed”), and this meaning better fits the context here, although BDAG categorizes Acts 20:23 under the meaning “testify of, bear witness to” (s.v. 1).
8 tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).
9 tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
10 tn Grk “bonds.”
11 tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.
7 tn Grk “soul.”
8 tn Or “I do not consider my life worth a single word.” According to BDAG 599 s.v. λόγος 1.a.α, “In the textually uncertain pass. Ac 20:24 the text as it stands in N., οὐδενὸς λόγου (v.l. λόγον) ποιοῦμαι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμίαν, may well mean: I do not consider my life worth a single word (cp. λόγου ἄξιον [ἄξιος 1a] and our ‘worth mention’).”
9 tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”
10 tn Grk “course.” See L&N 42.26, “(a figurative extension of meaning of δρόμος ‘race’) a task or function involving continuity, serious, effort, and possibly obligation – ‘task, mission’…Ac 20:24.” On this Pauline theme see also Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 4:6-7.
11 tn Or “to the gospel.”
8 tn Or “exhorting.”
9 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”
10 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
9 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.