Acts 22:22-29

The Roman Commander Questions Paul

22:22 The crowd ¹  was listening to him until he said this. ²  Then ³  they raised their voices and shouted, ⁴  “Away with this man ⁵  from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” ⁶  22:23 While they were screaming ⁷  and throwing off their cloaks ⁸  and tossing dust ⁹  in the air, 22:24 the commanding officer ¹⁰  ordered Paul ¹¹  to be brought back into the barracks. ¹²  He told them ¹³  to interrogate Paul ¹⁴  by beating him with a lash ¹⁵  so that he could find out the reason the crowd ¹⁶  was shouting at Paul ¹⁷  in this way. 22:25 When they had stretched him out for the lash, ¹⁸  Paul said to the centurion ¹⁹  standing nearby, “Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen ²⁰  without a proper trial?” ²¹  22:26 When the centurion ²²  heard this, ²³  he went to the commanding officer ²⁴  and reported it, ²⁵  saying, “What are you about to do? ²⁶  For this man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷  22:27 So the commanding officer ²⁸  came and asked ²⁹  Paul, ³⁰  “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” ³¹  He replied, ³²  “Yes.” 22:28 The commanding officer ³³  answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” ³⁴  “But I was even ³⁵  born a citizen,” ³⁶  Paul replied. ³⁷  22:29 Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away ³⁸  from him, and the commanding officer ³⁹  was frightened when he realized that Paul ⁴⁰  was ⁴¹  a Roman citizen ⁴²  and that he had had him tied up. ⁴³ 

[22:22]  ¹ tn Grk “They were listening”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:22]  ² tn Grk “until this word.”

[22:22]  ³ tn Grk “And.” To indicate the logical sequence, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” here.

[22:22]  ⁴ tn Grk “and said.”

[22:22]  ⁵ tn Grk “this one.”

[22:22]  ⁶ tn BDAG 491 s.v. καθήκω has “to be appropriate, come/reach to, be proper/fitting…Usu. impers. καθήκει it comes (to someone)…foll. by acc. and inf….οὐ καθῆκεν αὐτὸν ζῆν he should not be allowed to live Ac 22:22.”

[22:23]  ⁷ tn The participle κραυγαζόντων (kraugazontwn) has been translated temporally.

[22:23]  ⁸ tn Or “outer garments.”

[22:23]  ⁹ sn The crowd’s act of tossing dust in the air indicated they had heard something disturbing and offensive. This may have been a symbolic gesture, indicating Paul’s words deserved to be thrown to the wind, or it may have simply resulted from the fact they had nothing else to throw at him at the moment.

[22:24]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[22:24]  ¹¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹² tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”

[22:24]  ¹³ tn Grk “into the barracks, saying.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek using the participle εἴπας (eipas), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence a new sentence was begun in the translation here. The direct object “them” has been supplied; it is understood in Greek.

[22:24]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹⁵ sn To interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash. Under the Roman legal system it was customary to use physical torture to extract confessions or other information from prisoners who were not Roman citizens and who were charged with various crimes, especially treason or sedition. The lashing would be done with a whip of leather thongs with pieces of metal or bone attached to the ends.

[22:24]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:25]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “for the thongs” (of which the lash was made). Although often translated as a dative of means (“with thongs”), referring to thongs used to tie the victim to the whipping post, BDAG 474-75 s.v. ἱμάς states that it “is better taken as a dat. of purpose for the thongs, in which case οἱ ἱμάντες = whips (Posidonius: 87 fgm. 5 Jac.; POxy. 1186, 2 τὴν διὰ τῶν ἱμάντων αἰκείαν. – Antiphanes 74, 8, Demosth. 19, 197 and Artem. 1, 70 use the sing. in this way).”

[22:25]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[22:25]  ²⁰ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[22:25]  ²¹ tn Or “a Roman citizen and uncondemned.” BDAG 35 s.v. ἀκατάκριτος has “uncondemned, without due process” for this usage.

[22:26]  ²² sn See the note on the word centurion in 10:1.

[22:26]  ²³ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[22:26]  ²⁴ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.

[22:26]  ²⁵ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[22:26]  ²⁶ tn Or perhaps, “What do you intend to do?” Although BDAG 627 s.v. μέλλω 1.c.α lists this phrase under the category “be about to, be on the point of,” it is possible it belongs under 1.c.γ, “denoting an intended action: intend, propose, have in mind…τί μέλλεις ποιεῖν; what do you intend to do?”

[22:26]  ²⁷ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[22:27]  ²⁸ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.

[22:27]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and said to.”

[22:27]  ³⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:27]  ³¹ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[22:27]  ³² tn Grk “He said.”

[22:28]  ³³ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.

[22:28]  ³⁴ sn Sometimes Roman citizenship was purchased through a bribe (Dio Cassius, Roman History 60.17.4-9). That may well have been the case here.

[22:28]  ³⁵ tn BDAG 495-96 s.v. καί 2.b has “intensive: even…Ac 5:39; 22:28.”

[22:28]  ³⁶ tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[22:28]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Paul said.” This phrase has been placed at the end of the sentence in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:29]  ³⁸ tn BDAG 158 s.v. ἀφίστημι 2.b has “keep away…ἀπό τινος… Lk 4:13; Ac 5:38; 2 Cor 12:8…cp. Ac 22:29.” In context, the point would seem to be not that the interrogators departed or withdrew, but that they held back from continuing the flogging.

[22:29]  ³⁹ tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). See note on the term “commanding officer” in v. 24.

[22:29]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:29]  ⁴¹ tn This is a present tense (ἐστιν, estin) retained in indirect discourse. It must be translated as a past tense in contemporary English.

[22:29]  ⁴² tn The word “citizen” is supplied here for emphasis and clarity.

[22:29]  ⁴³ sn Had him tied up. Perhaps a reference to the chains in Acts 21:33, or the preparations for the lashing in Acts 22:25. A trial would now be needed to resolve the matter. The Roman authorities’ hesitation to render a judgment in the case occurs repeatedly: Acts 22:30; 23:28-29; 24:22; 25:20, 26-27. The legal process begun here would take the rest of Acts and will be unresolved at the end. The process itself took four years of Paul’s life.