1 Samuel 9:7-8

9:7 So Saul said to his servant, “All right, ¹  we can go. But what can we bring the man, since the food in our bags is used up? We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?” 9:8 The servant went on to answer Saul, “Look, I happen to have in my hand a quarter shekel ²  of silver. I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us where we should go.” ³ 

1 Samuel 9:2

9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. There was no one among the Israelites more handsome than he was; he stood head and shoulders above all the people.

1 Samuel 5:1

The Ark Causes Trouble for the Philistines

5:1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

Jeremiah 40:5

40:5 Before Jeremiah could turn to leave, the captain of the guard added, “Go back ⁴  to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed to govern ⁵  the towns of Judah. Go back and live with him ⁶  among the people. Or go wherever else you choose.” Then the captain of the guard gave Jeremiah some food and a present and let him go.

Malachi 1:10

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ⁷  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

Acts 8:18-20

8:18 Now Simon, when he saw that the Spirit ⁸  was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, offered them money, 8:19 saying, “Give me this power ⁹  too, so that everyone I place my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.” 8:20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, ¹⁰  because you thought you could acquire ¹¹  God’s gift with money!

Acts 8:1

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹²  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ¹³  persecution began ¹⁴  against the church in Jerusalem, ¹⁵  and all ¹⁶  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ¹⁷  of Judea and Samaria.

Acts 5:2

5:2 He ¹⁸  kept back for himself part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge; he brought ¹⁹  only part of it and placed it at the apostles’ feet.

[9:7]  ¹ tn Heb “look.”

[9:8]  ² sn A quarter shekel of silver would weigh about a tenth of an ounce (about 3 grams).

[9:8]  ³ tn Heb “our way.”

[40:5]  ⁴ tc Or “Before Jeremiah could answer, the captain of the guard added.” Or “But if you remain, then go back.” The meaning of the first part of v. 5 is uncertain. The text is either very cryptic here or is corrupt, perhaps beyond restoration. The Hebrew text reads, “and he was not yet turning and return to Gedaliah” (וְעוֹדֶנּוּ לֹא־יָשׁוּב וְשֻׁבָה אֶל־גְּדַלְיָה) which is very cryptic. The Greek version lacks everything in v. 4 after “I will look out for you” and begins v. 5 with “But if not, run, return to Gedaliah” (= וְאִם לֹא רוּץ וְשֻׁבָה אֶל־גְּדַלְיָה). The Latin version reads the same as the Hebrew in v. 4 but reads “and don’t come with me but stay with Gedaliah” (= a possible Hebrew text of וְעִמָּדִי לֹא תָּשׁוּב וְשֵׁבָה אֶת־גְּדַלְיָה). The Syriac version reads “But if you are remaining then return to Gedaliah” (reading a possible Hebrew text of יֹשֵׁב וְשֻׁבָה אֶל־גְּדַלְיָה וְעוֹדְךָ לֻא with an abnormal writing of a conditional particle normally written לוּ [lu] and normally introducing conditions assumed to be untrue or reading וְעוֹדְךָ לְיֹשֵׁב וְשֻׁבָה אֶל־גְּדַלְיָה with an emphatic לְ [lÿ, see IBHS 211-12 §11.2.10i] and an informally introduced condition). NRSV does not explain the Hebrew base for its reading but accepts the Syriac as the original. It does appear to be the most likely alternative if the Hebrew is not accepted. However, the fact that none of the versions agree and all appear to be smoother than the Hebrew text suggests that they were dealing with an awkward original that they were trying to smooth out. Hence it is perhaps best to retain the Hebrew and make the best sense possible out of it. The most common reading of the Hebrew text as it stands is “and while he was not yet turning [= but before he was able to turn (to go)] [Nebuzaradan continued], ‘Go back to Gedaliah.’” (The imperfect in this case is an imperfect of capability [see IBHS 507 §31.4c, examples 2, 4, 5].) That is the reading that is adopted here. REB and TEV appear to accept a minor emendation of the verb “turn to leave” (יָשׁוּב, yashuv, a Qal imperfect) to “answer” (יָשִׁיב, yashiv, a Hiphil imperfect with an elided object [see BDB 999 s.v. שׁוּב Hiph.3 and compare 2 Chr 10:16]). All of this shows that the meaning of the text at this point is very uncertain.

[40:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “set him over/ made him overseer over.” See BDB 823-24 s.v. פָּקִיד Hiph.1 and compare usage in Gen 39:4-5.

[40:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “Go back to Gedaliah…and live with him among the people.” The long Hebrew sentence has been restructured to better conform with contemporary English style.

[1:10]  ⁷ sn The rhetorical language suggests that as long as the priesthood and people remain disobedient, the temple doors may as well be closed because God is not “at home” to receive them or their worship there.

[8:18]  ⁸ tc Most witnesses (Ì^45,74 A* C D E Ψ 33 1739 Ï latt sy bo) here read “the Holy Spirit” (τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, to pneuma to {agion), while a few key mss have simply τὸ πνεῦμα (א A^c B sa mae). Although it is possible that some scribes omitted τὸ ἅγιον because of its perceived superfluity (note vv. 15, 17, 19), it is far more likely that others added the adjective out of pious motives.

[8:19]  ⁹ tn Or “ability”; Grk “authority.”

[8:20]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “May your silver together with you be sent into destruction.” This is a strong curse. The gifts of God are sovereignly bestowed and cannot be purchased.

[8:20]  ¹¹ tn Or “obtain.”

[8:1]  ¹² tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

[8:1]  ¹³ tn Or “severe.”

[8:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

[8:1]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:1]  ¹⁶ sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

[8:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “countryside.”

[5:2]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And he.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[5:2]  ¹⁹ tn The participle ἐνέγκας (enenka") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.