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.”
4 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.”
5 tn Heb “my foot.”
6 tn Heb “held fast.”
7 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”).
8 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.
9 tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”
10 tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).
11 tn BDAG 826 s.v. πλήν 1.d has “πλὴν ὅτι except that…Ac 20:23.”
12 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).
13 tn The Greek text here reads κατὰ πόλιν (kata polin).
14 tn Grk “saying that,” but the participle λέγον (legon) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
15 tn Grk “bonds.”
16 tn Or “troubles,” “suffering.” See Acts 19:21; 21:4, 11.
17 tn Grk “soul.”
18 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’).”
19 tn BDAG 1106 s.v. ὡς 9 describes this use as “a final particle, expressing intention/purpose, with a view to, in order to.”
20 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.
21 tn Or “to the gospel.”
22 tn Or “exhorting.”
23 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”
24 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
25 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.