Acts 4:25-28

4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through ¹  your servant David our forefather, ² 

‘Why do the nations ³  rage, ⁴ 

and the peoples plot foolish ⁵  things?

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ⁶ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ⁷  Christ.’ ⁸ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ⁹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ¹⁰  4:28 to do as much as your power ¹¹  and your plan ¹²  had decided beforehand ¹³  would happen.

Revelation 17:17

17:17 For God has put into their minds ¹⁴  to carry out his purpose ¹⁵  by making ¹⁶  a decision ¹⁷  to give their royal power ¹⁸  to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. ¹⁹ 

[4:25]  ¹ tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).

[4:25]  ² tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

[4:25]  ³ tn Or “Gentiles.”

[4:25]  ⁴ sn The Greek word translated rage includes not only anger but opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. See L&N 88.185.

[4:25]  ⁵ tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”

[4:26]  ⁶ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ⁷ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ⁹ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ¹⁰ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ¹¹ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ¹² tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ¹³ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.

[17:17]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “hearts.”

[17:17]  ¹⁵ tn Or “his intent.”

[17:17]  ¹⁶ tn The infinitive ποιῆσαι (poihsai) was translated here as giving the logical means by which God’s purpose was carried out.

[17:17]  ¹⁷ tn On this term BDAG 203 s.v. γνώμη 4 states, “declaration, decision, resolution…of God Rv 17:17.”

[17:17]  ¹⁸ tn For this translation see BDAG 168 s.v. βασιλεία 1.a, “kingship, royal power, royal rule.”

[17:17]  ¹⁹ tn Or “completed.”